Give your garden a late summer boost with our helpful gardening tips & advice. From pruning to lawn advice! 🌿☀️

Read on for our top 5 jobs this August ⬇️

1. Prune your wisteria

Pruning your Wisteria in summer encourages better blooms next season. It improves access to sunlight and the air circulation to help young buds form.

To summer prune, remove the long whippy stems that are left over after flowering to around 5 or 6 leaves. This will steer the plant away from putting unnecessary energy into leaf growth.

Trained versions of fruit trees such as espaliers and fans require some pruning in summer. Any new shoots that are longer than 20cm should be cut back to one leaf from the base. Water shoots, that grow rapidly and upright should also be pruned, as well as any damaged or diseased branches. This not only maintains the shape of the trained fruit, but also encourages the formation of fruit buds for a healthy crop next season.

3. Continue watering & pay attention to Camellias and Rhododendrons

As the dry weather continues, it's important to give your garden a good water in the morning or evening to reduce evaporation and prevent leaf scorch.

In late summer, Rhododendrons and Camellias will be forming their flower buds for next year's display, so pay extra attention to these shrubs. Water deeply at the base of the plant so you're fully soaking the roots. 

4. Remove suckers from roses and the base of trees

Suckers are unwanted shoots that grow from the base of plants. They grow on both roses & the base of trees if the plant is under stress.

🌹 On roses, you can identify a sucker if the shoot has dull, matt leaves and a lack of thorns. If you're unsure, new healthy growth on roses will usually have hints of red. To remove a rose sucker, dig down to the root of origin and pull the stem out.

🌳 On trees, suckers can be identified by long wispy shoots that emerge from the base of the tree. Like the roses, tear away the shoot from the origin to prevent regrowth.

5. Lawn looking brown? Hold off from mowing - it will bounce back

Due to a lack of rain, your lawn might be looking a little worse for wear. Grass is incredibly resilient and after a few consistent days of rain, it will bounce back.  In drought, lawns go dormant and should not be mowed as this will delay potential recovery.