Pat’s Jobs for August 2024

1. It is especially important to keep Camellias and Rhododendrons damp at the roots this month as this is the time that the buds form for next Spring. Water well and mulch if you can. 

2. Take Aeonium cuttings now by severing leggy leaf stems a couple of inches below a cluster. Leave the stem end to callous over, then push into gritty compost and keep in a shady spot until roots start to form. 

3. You can sow some hardy annuals now, such as Nigella and Calendula, for an early crop of flowers next spring. Here are examples of them going to seed.

4. Prune rambling roses now and try to take out one third of main stems to rejuvenate the plant. Take back side shoots to one or two buds – but these are tough plants so generally you don’t need to be too fussy. 

5. Cut back Hardy Geraniums and Alchemilla mollis hard now, to rejuvenate and hopefully get a fresh flush of flowers and leaves.

6. Take some semi-ripe cuttings of shrubs from non-flowering growth and push into pots of gritty compost.

7. Ripen tomatoes by pinching out the growing tip once 4 trusses of flowers have formed if growing outdoors or 7 trusses if greenhouse grown. 

8. If runner beans flowers are failing to set fruit, spray with water. There seems to be a lack of pollinating insects around this year.

9. Keep picking spinach and chard leaves regularly or the plants will bolt and go to seed. 

10. Encourage pollinators by growing single, open-centred flowers. Double flowers are hopeless for them – nice as they are! 

Happy gardening! 

Pat K