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From fruit and veg to lavender and dahlias

August is the month when flowers of fiery reds and purples, burnt oranges and glorious yellows set our beds and borders alight with colour. On veg patches and allotments, fruit is being picked and vegetables harvested, all to be enjoyed in mouth-watering dishes.

So, ‘make hay while the sun shines’ with 10 gardening jobs you can be doing right now that’ll ensure your garden continues to thrive throughout this month.

With heavy blooms and ever-growing stems, plants such as dahlias and gladioli will need staking. This extra support will not only prevent damage, but discourage ground pests from attacking low-lying plants.

Deadhead regularly to keep plants flowering into autumn. Fresh blooms not only look good, but continue to feed bees, butterflies and hoverflies, which are essential to a garden’s wellbeing. Sweet peas will be keen to set seed, so it’s important to deadhead daily. Keep up with the water regime, and add a weekly plant feed. For perennials that have finished flowering, cutback to ensure plants remains healthy and flower beds look tidy.

Once flowered, stop lavender from becoming leggy by cutting into a compact shape. However, don’t cut too far back as new flowers can’t grow on old wood. Use the cut flowers around the home, by creating lavender pouches to scent drawers or pillow cases. Lavender can also be used in baking.

Hedges can become unruly in summer, and now that the birds have fledged, it’s time to give them a prune. Whether you’re using a pair of hand shears or a hedge trimmer, think about how you want your hedge to look. Work from the bottom up in a smooth, controlled motion. Prune all sides and finish with the top. Wear protective clothing and if the hedge is tall, use the correct height support. Once completed, clear away all debris.

Ideally, you should prune wisteria twice a year. Once in late winter, and once in august. There’s been a lot of growth during the summer months, so cut these newly-formed long laterals back to the fifth set of leaves on each shoot, and tie-in where necessary. This restricts the growth, creates better ventilation, hardens the remaining summer growth, and encourages new flower buds for next year.

Now that gooseberries have been harvested, pruning should be carried out to ensure the plant remains healthy. By creating a ‘goblet’ shape, this will allow as much ventilation as possible to circulate throughout the plant. Remove the inner branches of the plant, and reduce the rest of the plant to about six leaves per branch. This will encourage fresh shoots to grow.

Summer raspberries should have now finished fruiting. Therefore, cutback the fruit canes that once held fruit, which will now look brown, as this will encourage new canes to grow. You may need to cut away further canes to ensure good ventilation, ideally canes should be 20cm apart. With remaining canes, tie-in to horizontal wire support.

Courgettes, marrows and beans will continue to produce so long as you pick regularly. Cut away excess foliage to help prevent powdery mildew and ensuring sunshine reaches all growing vegetables. Mildew can also be prevented by watering at the base of the plant rather than over the leaves. For a late season harvest, consider sowing beetroot, pak choi and kohl rabi.

Cabbage White Butterflies will be eyeing up your brassicas to lay their eggs. Check your crops regularly, and remove any eggs or pests you find. Net your crops and use brassica collars when planting out, this will help reduce the chances of pests.

Heat, humidity, and rainfall can cause the onset of blight in potatoes and tomatoes. If you see any signs of the fungal infestation, remove affected plants from site or burn. If you catch potato blight at an early stage, remove affected foliage but leave tubers in the ground, as they may be unaffected. To reduce blight, encourage a crop rotation system, and try to use blight resistant varieties.

Remove any build-up of algae and weeds, placing it beside the pond overnight. This will give any captured wildlife the opportunity to return to the water. If you have water plants, now is the time to thin them. Clean the pumps and filters of any water features you may have. If you have fish, feed them regularly.

If you’re going away, ensure you make plans to keep your garden from drying out. Ask a neighbour to pop over once every few days to water and check on your garden. If you have pots and containers, group them all together under some shade, to make watering easier. Keep greenhouses ventilated, and if necessary, create shade to prevent certain plants from getting scorched.