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Gardening
Tips for August
| 1. |
Time
Saving Tip: The self sown seedlings
of plants such as Lady鈥檚 mantle can be as
troublesome as any weed. After flowering
remove all the heads before they set seed.
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| 2. |
Money
Saving Tip: Use the skin of citrus fruit
to attract and trap slugs and snails. They
will crawl into the peel at night. In the
morning shovel them up and dump. |
| 3. |
There
is a group of plants which need to be pruned
after flowering. Shrubs such as philadelphus
and weigela flower on the new growths. Cut
old, overgrown plants hard and feed with
a general fertilizer. They will recover.
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| 4. |
Seed
of candalabra primulas is best sown fresh.
The seed doesn鈥檛 need to be fully ripe.
Pick the capsules now and split them open.
The greenish-white seed is sticky so spread
it thinly on a peat based compost. Cover
with a thin layer of sand or perlite. Germination
is quick. |
| 5. |
Feed
roses with a specialist rose fertilizer
which contains trace elements. I prefer
a powdered form but if the weather is dry,
water it into the surface of the soil. Keep
an eye out for rose suckers pulling them
off as close to the rose root as possible.
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| 6. |
Sunlight
encourages pond weed and green water. Try
to shade at least part of the surface of
the pond. |
| 7. |
This
is the time to clip evergreen hedges giving
them time to recover and cover themselves
with new leaves before the first of the
winter frosts. |
| 8. |
As
soon as blackcurrants have finished fruiting
prune out the older branches. The oldest
branches have black or dark brown bark.
Young stems are a pale, fawn-brown. Cut
the branches as close to the ground as possible.
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| 9. |
Sedum
spectabile is better known as the Ice plant.
Butterflies love its wonderful, large, pink,
flower heads in autumn. With its heavy,
fleshy leaves, it is prone to wind damage.
Staking the stems now with canes will prevent
damage later. |
| 10. |
Warm
weather encourages red spider mite on conifers.
They cause defoliation on picea and spruce.
Spray now to reduce the damage. |
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