Enjoy the garden - but keep working (From Ealing Times)

Enjoy the garden - but keep working

11:05am Thursday 7th August 2003 in

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AUGUST is high summer and traditionally the annual holiday month during which to take a break in the garden.

If you are going away this year, then do remember to ask a kind neighbour to give your plants a watering during any hot dry spells.

If you are going to be away for more than a week, then also it might be worth popping your indoor plants into the bathtub with some water to keep them watered as well.

Even during the month of August there are quite a few jobs to do in the garden – that's if the mood takes you that is.

One job to do this month is to keep up with the clipping of hedges to keep them looking neat and tidy.

One tip here is to trim your hedge with a gently sloping side with the top being narrower and the bottom being wider as this will allow light to get evenly to the side of the hedge.

If you have an informal hedge of holly or laurel, then these are best pruned with secateurs as that way you won't have unsightly evergreen foliage cut in half.

After pruning your hedges treat them to a bit of a feed and a drink of water, then mulch them with compost or bark chippings.

A lovely climbing plant that benefits from a summer pruning is the wisteria.

Prune the long "whippy" side shoots back to about six inches.

Also give it another prune in mid-winter and this will help it produce more wonderful flowers next spring.

Summer flowering shrubs that have flowered in June, July and early August can now be pruned after they've finished flowering.

This will nicely tidy them up and prevent them becoming overcrowded and also it will encourage new shoots.

Bulbs aren't just for spring and if you would like to inject some autumn flower colour into your garden, then you could opt for colchicums and sternbergias, which are autumn flowering crocuses and daffodils.

Look out for them now in your local garden centre and as soon as they are available plant them out in your garden somewhere that they'll not be disturbed.

During this month you can also sow root vegetables such as beetroot and turnips and also fast growing salad crops such as lettuce, radishes and spring onions.

Getting children to help with starting off a fruit or vegetable plot would be great way to occupy them during the school holidays while at the same time getting them interested in gardening – and who knows, you might be the parent of a budding future gardening celebrity!

Judy Fenyvesi will be running a one-day garden design workshop on Saturday September 13 in Ealing.

For more details about the event call Judy on 020 8575 3390 or visit her website for information, as well as handy hints and tips, at www.gardendesigner.co.uk