August in our garden

14th August 2019 Lisa 44 Comments

I know I say this every month but I can’t believe we’re already looking at August in our garden. Where is this year going? My monthly update is a little later than usual, due to our being away for a couple of weeks. One of which was during the UK heatwave, so a lot of things died off through lack of TLC. But a weekend’s deadheading, tying in, and weeding has made a huge difference so, better late than never, here we go 🙂

What’s flowering now?

Our pots at the front of the house are the best they’ve ever been, I think. We have a lemonade yellow cosmos, purple geraniums, petunias, and lavender. My favourite colour mix and they smell wonderful too.

August in our garden cosmos, petunias, lavender

Moving around the side, our two clematis are flowering happily, as is our climbing rose (which I dread pruning as I have to use a ladder, and I’m prone to falling off…)

August in our garden - clematis and rose

The edible flower seeds I sowed earlier this year have really done me proud. We have calendula, chamomile and borage, all of which are bee magnets too. They’re lovely in salads, and home-brewed chamomile tea is a new thing for me, although borage in my G&T ice cubes is an old favourite! Tip: if you’ve never tried growing your own edible flowers, do give it a go, they don’t need a rich soil and will be fine with just the occasional watering.

As I’m sure you’ve probably noticed, this is THE month for sunflowers, and August in our garden is no exception. A rogue sunflower seed took root in our vegetable bed (just where I don’t want it) and has produced a Godzilla of a plant. It’s simply towering over everything, including our poor gooseberry bush, which isn’t getting anywhere near enough light. Despite the fact that Flora also has gi-huge sunflowers in her little patch, she’s forbidden me to cut this one down, so no goosegogs crumble for Alan this year.

I’m really thrilled with a couple of the plants in my cutting beds. This is the first year I’ve managed to grow any blue agapanthus and my new (grown from a tuber this year) pink Penhill Watermelon dahlia is producing dinner plate sized blooms. One at a time, to be sure, but quite spectacular. Although my heart still belongs to my first ever dahlia, my beautiful Roxy (this month’s cover picture), five year old and as beautiful as ever. We still have a few blue cornflowers but sadly all my sweet peas went to seed as we weren’t around to pick them for two weeks, so I’ve pulled them all up. Note: sweet peas gone to seed look just like pea pods but DO NOT be tempted to eat them, they are poisonous. That said, I’ve saved a few pods for sowing next February (always assuming I can find them again in six months’ time).

August in our garden - Dahlia Penshill Watermelon

My cutting beds are beginning to look a little bare, so I’ll be popping down to the garden centre to pick up some on sale perennials shortly. Tip: this is a great time to grab a few bargains as many plants are looking tired, but don’t worry about a few dead leaves on top. As long as the roots haven’t dried out, a quick soak in a bucket of water and they’ll be fine. And will give you beautiful blooms this time next year too.

What’s fruiting now?

It’s not just in the orchard that we’re lucky enough to be growing edibles. We’ve got masses of wild strawberries (which are delicious in drinks too), a few blueberries that the blackbird missed, some yummy rhubarb, and a whopping grape harvest to come. Really, all that sunshine earlier this year has resulted in an explosion of fruits.

August in our garden - wild strawberries

Moving into the orchard, we have some quince, a few peaches, and some tiny figs. Sadly, the howling gales earlier this year ripped away half our old peach tree but the remaining fruit is still looking fairly healthy.

Another success story is our Victoria plum tree, which our erstwhile gardener told us had brown rot and should be cut down. So much for his expertise, the tree is positively laden with fruit. I had one the other day and it was gorgeous. And our newest apple tree has valiantly produced a few tiny apples too. They won’t be edible this year but fingers crossed for 2020.

Talking of apples, our stalwart old mystery apple tree is as laden as ever. We have no idea what variety of apples they are, but they ripen very early, have a slight fizz, taste delicious raw, juiced, or cooked, and are all over by mid-September. And they don’t keep, unfortunately, so we have to make the most of the glut now.

Several years ago Alan bought two cherry trees and a pear tree from our local Poundstore, and they’ve fruited reliably ever since. The cherries are over now but the pears are getting going. As are the tiny little kiwis from a plant I bought about six years ago.

And last, but certainly not least, do you remember how excited I was that our damson tree had a mass of fruit for the very first time? Well, just look at them now! Damsons are usually dark purple, almost black, but apparently these yellow ones are a variety of wild damson. They’re supposed to be great for cooking (jam and gin <grin>) but actually they taste lovely raw too.

August in the greenhouse

The greenhouse is looking rather crowded now. The tomatoes are ones I sow every year, they’re a Rainbow blend but you never know what colours you’re going to get until they’re ripe. I need to water thoroughly twice a week and keep pinching out the side shoots to keep the energy directed into the fruits.

And we’ve got three different varieties of cucumber this year: one grown from seed, two others from different garden centres. The aubergine plant is something Alan turned up with last month. I’ve never grown aubergines before, so watch this space!

Outdoor jobs for August

August in our garden will see me deadheading daily to try and prolong the life of the flowers. Oh, and weeding, watering, collecting seeds for future sowings. Our summer fruiting raspberries are over now so I’ve cut down this year’s growth and tied in the new green shoots, which is where next year’s crop will (hopefully) fruit.

And as well as weekly grass cutting, now that the nesting birds have more or less all fledged, Alan can get on with giving our hedges a summer trim. A job he simply loves to do, haha, not.

Wildlife

We’ve planted massed of nectar rich flowers over the years and one of the favourites for bees and butterflies are our two buddleias. Any time you walk past them, you’re in danger of being hit in the face either by butterflies or the biggest bumbles I’ve ever seen.

And we’re keeping our ponds topped up (although the baby frogs are more or less all gone now) and the bird feeders, because the exhausted parents need all the easy energy they can find.

Flora’s garden

You could barely see anything in Flora’s patch for all the weeds after our two weeks away. After a concerted effort involving all three of us, things are a lot clearer now. She’s still got some lovely flowers including some huge sunflowers, a wild mallow and some gorgeous little (and edible) pansies.

And although her carrots didn’t come to much (I’ve never had any luck with them either), her apple mint and lemon balm are both coming along nicely. She’s plotting to sell fresh herb teas to luckless passers-by for the king’s ransom of £5 a mug. You have to admire her entrepreneurial spirit if not her business acumen…