I love to spend time in the garden in August. Whether that’s because of spring being so close or just the relaxed nature of everything to be done, I’m not quite sure, but there’s something quite delightful about that hint of the new season in the air as you wander around beneath the winter sunshine and tidy up some of the mess. That mess can be leftover autumn leaves, straggly bits of dead growth or the ridiculously long-overdue deadheading of flowers. Provided it’s not too wet outside, of course!
August is also a good time to load up on organic matter in your garden beds and around your trees and shrubs. Some slow-release fertiliser pellets thrown in for good measure can be a good idea, so that when your trees and shrubs shake off their winter slumber and start growing again, there’ll be plenty of sustenance readily available to support all that fresh new growth. It’s also not too late to add some bare-root deciduous trees and shrubs to your future garden canvas, just remember to give them a good dunk in some seaweed solution before planting to help them settle into their new location and get them off to the best of starts.
Less enjoyable at this time of year is the winter weeds in your lawn, but really they’ll pop up in almost any location, including your gutters if you haven’t cleaned them out for a while! A quick whip around your lawn with a pronged device of some kind should see to most of those easily spotted weeds, the majority of which pull up relatively easily by hand or with the assistance of the aforementioned helpful prongy thing. A weed-and-feed can be a good idea even though growth is still quite slow, as it will target the ‘weed(s)’ and have the ‘feed’ on hand for when spring really does arrive.
A general pruning of anything leggy in the garden, tree and shrub-wise, and a quick trim of any hedges can be done now rather than waiting until early spring. You’ll find that if you cut your hedges at the outset of spring, then more than likely you’ll be cutting them again a mere week or two afterwards.
To finish, some last-minute health checks on your deciduous trees while the trunk and branches are still visible is recommended if you haven’t done so already. A quick Visual Tree Assessment (VTA) will pick up any obvious signs of disease and damage that may cause more serious issues in the future.
August jobs to do now:
- Clip hedges
- Feed and prune citrus
- Aerate and feed lawns
- Re-pot or refresh container plants
