It’s time to allow ideas to take root

AUGUST is a busy month in the garden. Growth continues at a steady pace with long hours of daylight and warm weather helping plants to increase in size, produce flowers and fruit or set seed.

Our veg plot is heavy with produce waiting to be harvested and the lawn needs a cut every five days.

As a gardener, it can be hard to sit and chill out in the garden because there is always something to do.

The very moment you relax and open a beer or make a brew, a plant will catch your eye and demand to be deadheaded, supported, tied back or even weeded out.

However, taking time to pause and observe is a must at this time of the year.

It’s a good moment to analyse how well your garden is working for you and how you might improve it.

It might be something structural – you need an area for outdoor dining or some shade for midday enjoyment. Or it might be making decisions about moving plants in the autumn.

I have a Lobelia tupa, a gorgeous plant with fabulous red flowers which is getting bigger each year.

The problem is that it’s tucked out of sight behind some shrubs, and every summer I vow to move it to a more prominent position in autumn and then promptly forget.

This year I’ve put a bamboo marker by the plant, eyed up a vacant spot for it and have put it on my to-do list.

You can do the same with plants that need lifting and dividing – either because they are congested or you wish to increase your stock to spread through the garden.

There’s plenty of cutting back to do as early summer flowering plants start to die.

Some perennials have attractive seed heads which you might leave in situ but others are best cut away.

When I’m cutting back aquilegias, foxgloves and poppies, I usually open the seed heads and give them a good shake to disperse the seeds around the garden. Nature will always find the best spots to germinate.

You can also collect seed in brown paper bags and store them for later sowing.

I’m planting some bulbs this weekend as well. This might seem an odd time of year to do this but there are some beautiful autumn-flowering bulbs that need to get in the ground right now.

Colchicum autumnale, also known as naked ladies, is a lovely crocus-type bulb that will flower on bare stems in September, and I’m also planting some autumnflowering Crocus speciosus. Together this will give some purple cheer for early autumn.

Grow-your-own enthusiasts will also be preparing for winter crops.

There are a number of crops you could be sowing this month to ensure some winter greens.

Spring cabbage, turnips and quickgrowing crops such as salads and radishes can all be sown now.

Finally, if you feel the need to add oomph to your borders, plant late-flowering perennials that will deliver until the end of October.

Plants from the aster family are good choices – Michaelmas daisies, chrysanthemums, heleniums, echinaceas, sunflowers, anthemis and rudbeckias extend