- Wigan Borough in Bloom - Garden Notes for AUGUST

General Tasks

• Water if necessary, try to use collected rainwater
• Trim hedges
• Keep hoeing and weeding
• Watch out for pests and diseases
• Top up the sunken water levels in garden ponds

Plant Care

• Water baskets and container plants
• Feed baskets and containers once a week
• Support the stems of tall perennials
• Deadhead roses as blooms fade
• Trim lavendar bushes after flowering
• Prune wisteria

Lawn Care

• For a fine finish, cut your lawns more than once a week
• During prolonged dry weather, raise the height of cut and remove grass box
• Use a selective weedkiller if necessary

Fruit and Vegetables

• Sow lettuse, spring cabbage, radish and winter spinach
• Finish summer pruning the sideshoots on trained apple trees
• Regularly pinch out tomato sideshoots and support leading shoot
• Water adn feed tomato plants weekly with a high-potash tomato fertiliser

Greenhouse / Indoors

• Take cuttings of fuschias, pelargoniums and tender perennials
• Damp down the greenhouse floor every morning on hot days to increase humidity
• Watch out for pests and diseases
• Order spring-flowering bulbs for autumn planting

Source:  www.garden-assistant.co.uk