Written by: Ashley Edwards
August is a time where we should try and enjoy the fruits of our labour. The hard work we've put in earlier in spring is now paying dividends and the long warm evenings mean we can spend even more time relaxing in the garden. To extend the enjoyment of your garden into late summer and autumn, there are some things you can do now that will bring colour and vibrancy to your space.
Keep your containers looking great
To get the best out of your containers it’s important to have a regular watering schedule along with deadheading and feeding.
During the hot months of August, containers can dry out quickly and plants can suffer. Even if it does rain, it’s unlikely that enough water will reach the soil of the plant pot. During the hot months it’s good to have pot trays to capture water, and you can keep these topped up for the plants to absorb. They are useful if you're going away for a short break and can help get plants through a dry spell. Terracotta ollas are a practical and decorative way to water your border plants. These vessels are buried up to their neck and then filled with water. The water is released slowly into the soil by using soil-moisture tension, where it then becomes available to nearby plant roots. This technique has been used for centuries and is effective for crops and newly planted shrubs or perennials in a moisture retentive soil.
Deadheading your plants regularly will promote new flowers throughout summer. Using snips (or your fingers), take spent flowers of bedding plants and perennials back to the next set of leaves. This will prevent the plant producing seeds and encourage new flower buds to form. I’d recommend doing this every few days. It can be a really nice mindful practice to connect to plants, take your time doing it and notice the different stages of the flower, from bud to seed head. I often get lost in deadheading and the repetitive nature of it is almost like a meditation.
Feeding your container plants is important. If you've planted into fresh compost, this will last around 6 weeks, but after that the plants will rely on you for food. An organic feed, like organic liquid seaweed is best and you can water it in weekly. You can also use liquid comfrey if you are making your own, or run off from a wormery. For extended flowering it’s best to use a high potash feed as this is the main nutrient for flower production.
