AUGUST CLIPPINGS

THE GARDENS OF NEW-BUILD HOUSES

are often tiny, but their owners are discovering the beauty, convenience and productivity of trained fruit trees. Now is the time to finish summer pruning your cordon, espaliered(tiered) and step over apple trees by cutting back the long stems they have made this year, leaving behind a short stump bearing three leaves above those circling the very base.

COLLECT SEED FROM YOUR PLANTS

and take a few envelopes when visiting friends – I’m sure they won’t mind. Species and open-pollinated plants come mainly true from seed but avoid collecting from F1 hybrids, because the results are usually variable.Foxgloves, marigolds and sweet peas are good candidates.

MANY SHRUBS SET THEIR FLOWER BUDS

at the end of the growing season, ready for spring flowers.To help them along, soak the roots of camellias, rhododendrons and witch hazels during dry spells and treat them to a mulch.

TAKE CUTTINGS OF LAVENDER AND ROSEMARY

plants by selecting side shoots 8-10cm long, pulling them away with a heel of older wood attached.Trim the heel and dibble several into a pot of equal parts peat-free compost and grit or vermiculite.

GARDENERS WHO LET THEIR LAWNS GROW

for ‘No mow May’ and left them long should cut or shear now but leave some areas undisturbed. At anyone time there could be eggs, larvae or pupae of moths and butterflies present.

SOW OR PLANT HARDY LETTUCE VARIETIES,

rocket, land cress, perpetual spinach, chard, spring cabbage and spring onions.