Rosebie Morton’s August Gardening Guide

Wondering what you need to tackle in the garden this month – especially after so much rain? Rosebie Morton, founder of The Real Flower Company, shares her tips. Here’s your August gardening guide.

Gardening In August: Jobs To Do This Month

If, like mine, your garden, balcony, or window boxes are looking a bit battered and weed ridden, do not despair! We have just experienced the wettest and greyest couple of months ever, resulting in a difficult growing season. Flower heads have been tossed about by wind and rain, causing them to look sad and unloved – but keep dead heading them to encourage new flowers. 

Slugs and snails have been winners, and anyone attempting to grow their own salad can testify to this! (It’s not too late to keep sowing salad, spinach and radishes). Slugs do serve a purpose, though, chomping their way through rotting material to create the organic mulch that our soil needs. They can be encouraged away from vulnerable salad crops by leaving the odd irresistible brassica leaf around and rehoused in the compost heap. 

A compost heap or bin is a wonderful addition to any garden, and compost bin bags are readily available. The trick to good compost making is to be diligent about layering your garden and kitchen waste. Don’t be tempted to put big branches into it, which take too long to break down. There is nothing more satisfying than using your own homemade compost, and especially if you’ve done it by harnessing the help of slugs and snails – happy days!

Gardening is all about creating a harmonious balance with nature, and the more biodiversity the better. Mixed planting encourages good beneficials like lacewings and ladybirds. Monocropping as in rose gardens can encourage big outbreaks of aphids or fungal issues such as mildew, rust and black spot. Powdery mildew (a white residue) is very much around this month, thriving on warm humid days and cooler nights. The best control is to increase air flow through good pruning and not planting too close to walls. If plants are affected, cut out diseased stems and remove along with any fallen leaves. Keep feeding with a high potash feed – tomato feed is perfect – which will help the plant to fight diseases. Rust (orange spots and spores) can be treated in the same way.

This month is a great time to look at other gardens for inspiration. It can be a difficult month to keep your garden looking fresh and colourful; it’s tempting to think that your garden has peaked for the summer, but there is so much more that you could add to maintain colour, such as foundation-type plants which bring interest throughout the year. I’m a great fan of Heucheras, which come in many colours and are happy in anything from a container to a flowerbed in the shade. Equally, Asters, Sedums and Japanese Anemones will bring late summer colour and interest.

August is also the best time to prune Wisteria and split Bearded Irises. You can also scatter seed for next year, either by collecting seeds from your garden or buying a few packets of varieties such as Nigella, Calendula, Poppies and Forget-Me-Nots, as well as Cornflowers and Nemesia.