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August

© Valerie Adolph

August is the month when gardens that have looked good for weeks or months start to look tired. The weather may have been hot and dry, you may have been on holiday or busy with house guests or just hiding from the heat. At least, those are my excuses. The result is a garden that looks down at heel and if it was a book you'd call it dog-eared.

So I had to make some time for it. Grabbing a few minutes of reasonable coolness was the key. For me that means around sunset when the temperature drops and I can squeeze in half an hour of gardening before it is actually dark. Other people might prefer to get up earlier in the morning and garden while it is still fairly cool.

If you have enough space to put the sprinkler in one area while you work in another you can double your garden benefits. Water in the early morning and late evening to revive your poor thirsty plants. Give them a goodly watering, then leave them for a few days - you don't have to keep doing it every day. Plants will repay your efforts by looking refreshed and perhaps by putting out some more blooms.

Then deadhead all the leaves and flowers that are brown and crisp. Cut off and keep seeds or seed pods to use next year. Put the dead stuff in the compost, except for anything that looks diseased. Some flowers, poppy and foxglove for example, need to be rooted right out after flowering. Put the poppy heads, top down, in a paper bag to catch all the seeds. The seeds can later go into a pill bottle, marked, for storage or be planted in fall for a fast start next year. The poppy heads themselves look great in dried flower arrangements.

If you grow Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) cut off the flowering stems before the flowers turn yellowish-brown or they will seed all over the place and try to take over your entire garden next year. Some plants, like mint, will have spread too far so yank out all those that have crossed into forbidden territory. Other plants, like lemon balm or artemesia may have stems that are too tall now, so cut them back to a reasonable height. Their side shoots will take over and give you a bushier patch.

Take a look at your climbers and ramblers. Are they still climbing or rambling where you want them to? If not, cut back the over-enthusiastic shoots, or train them in the direction you want them to grow.