summer garden

Depending on the weather in a particular year, August can either feel like the depth of winter or the first hint of spring.

Flowering annuals, camellias, rhododendrons and cherry trees brighten up gardens in this cold month.

It’s an excellent time for planning your summer garden.

Flowering annuals

Winter flowering annuals will still be flowering prolifically, especially cinerarias, which are at their absolute best in late winter.

Make your last plantings of winter flowering annuals that will continue flowering well into spring, including alyssum, calendulas, cornflower, hollyhock, larkspur, lobelia, nemesia, pansies, snapdragons, stock, sweetpeas, violas and wallflowers.

Vege patch

Where the soil is not too wet and can be worked to a fine tilth (very fine texture), sow seeds of beetroot, carrots, onions, radish and spinach.

Towards the end of the month, you can begin sowing seeds of summer vegetables in seed raising trays that are in glasshouses or a sheltered porch.

This includes beans, cucumber, lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes.

Always use fresh, good-quality seed mix, such as Daltons Premium Seed Mix.

The seed mix provides all the nutrients growing seedlings need.

Strawberries

Young strawberry plants are now in active growth.

As tempting as it is to leave them, remove any early flowers as they will not form edible fruit.

A light mulch of pea straw or finely crushed bark helps reduce the impact of heavy rain and keeps the young plants ‘clean’ and healthy.

Ornamental trees and shrubs

Azaleas, camellias, daphnes, early rhododendrons and flowering cherry trees along with other winter flowering species are all at their best in August.

Garden centres are well stocked right now with new specimens, so it’s an excellent time to purchase.

Lawns

A quiet month n lawn care with little grass growth in August.

Note areas that have become excessively wet during winter.

Aim to install additional drainage over summer months.