| AREA | PLANT | ADVICE |
| FLOWERS | FUSHIAS | Some very old hardy fushias can positively explode into flower at this time of year and grow to gigantic proportions, so do not be afraid of clipping back and taking some cuttings. Cuttings taken this year can be very good for filling in bare patches in hanging baskets or beds next year |
| CAPE PRIMROSE | Leaf cuttings will give you new plants for next year. | |
| POTTED PLANTS | Any plants in pots will need watering at least twice a day. As your potted plants start to fade and you loose interest do think about giving them to a friend with a greenhouse or conservatory, they might be glad of the opportunity to have some different plants. | |
| BEDDING PLANTS | Take some cuttings for next year. | |
| SWEET PEAS | Keep cutting the flowers to promote new ones but leave some flowers to turn to seed pods for next years plants.Train the new shoots on the plants that you have lain down, upwards. | |
| SUNFLOWERS | Keep an eye on your sunflowers to make sure they are securely tied. Water well. | |
| GLADIOLI | As soon as your gladioli are past their best and the flowers have faded, dead head them. Some people pull them up at this time of year and store them over winter. | |
| FLOWERS | Dead head to promote more flowers. | |
| FRUIT | PEACHES | Thin out any heavy cropping branches, to give space for the fruits to grow and when the friuts have finished cut back all the shoots that produced fruit. |
| GOOSEBERRIES | At last you can start enjoying the fruits of your labours, keep an eye out for pests especially sawfly. | |
| RHUBARB | Keep well watered. If flowers appear cut them off. | |
| STRAWBERRIES | Keep an eye on the runners, tidy up any dead leaves. | |
| PLUMS | Support heavily laden branches of fruit with wood stakes. Apples and pears will also benefit from this. | |
| RASPBERRIES | The fruits are over and you should now prune summer varieties down to soil level, Tie up new shoots. | |
| GENERAL | Check for pests and diseases and treat quickly to prevent further damage. | |
| Check for slugs, weeds and other pests and diseases and deal with in the appropriate fashion, remember to check the underneath of pots as this is a favourite hiding place for slugs. If the weather is hot and dry, spend a little extra time watering your plants in the evening | ||
| GREENHOUSE | Go to our new Greenhouse section. | |
| HERBS | Go to our huge Herb section for lots of interesting information. | |
| Tarragon leaves freeze well and now is the time to do it, mark the container. | ||
| Make lovely fragrant bundles of oregano and marjoram, seperate the flowers from the leaves. | ||
| Hollyhock flowers can be threaded like a necklace and dried in the shade. | ||
| Prune back clumps of sage, thyme, rosemary, lavender and hyssop. | ||
| Trim back any overgrown herbs to encourage new growth, if you feel you cannot waste the trimmings then freeze to use whilst the new growth establishes. | ||
| HOUSEPLANTS | Go to the houseplant section for more information and care advice. Water twice a week. | |
| SEED SOWING | Spring cabbage, chinese cabbage, enddive, kohl rabi, lettuce, radish and winter spinach. | |
| SHRUBS | Prune back after summer flowers have faded to promote new growth. If your shrub has become rather woody, now is a good time to prune hard so that new shoots this year will produce lots of flowers next year. | |
| LAWNS | Water late in the evening for your lawn to maximise the moisture over night. Be sure not to waste water, for instance dont let your sprinkler water the pavement or road. Lawns only need water to a depth of 6ins maximum so dont leave the hose or sprinkler on too long in one place. | |
| VEGETABLES | SHALLOTS | Pull up shallots now and leave on top of the soil to thoroughly dry out, ready to store for the winter. |
| POTATOES | Should the weather be hot and humid beware of potato blight. | |
| RUNNER & FRENCH BEAN | Keep an eye on new shoots that are sprouting and head them upwards towards the canes, either tie them in place or gently place them inbetween other stems. Dont forget to leave a few pods to mature on the plant so that you will have a good supply of seeds for next year. When the shoots reach above your canes nip them off to encourage all the plants energy into the flowers and newly forming beans. Water well at night otherwise the flowers will drop. | |
| SPINACH | You can still plant spinach seeds out from now until September. To prevent slugs from attacking them, start the seeds off in pots and plant out when they have some growth. | |
| CELERY | Celery loves lots of water and if you like your stems white then wrap some paper around them as they grow, to form a collar or alternatively pile up earth. The reason for this is if the sun cannot get to the stems then the green chlorophyll will not be produced. | |
| ONIONS | Onion leaves should be allowed to die down naturally. Start thinking about your Autumn planting. | |
| COURGETTES | You might need gloves when harvesting your courgettes as the stems and leaves can be very prickly. Make sure you regularily harvest to encourage new flowers. Try stuffing the flowers for an unusual vegetable dish. |