What to do NOW: July 26 - August 1

Although it is not the traditional time of year for planting, young trees and shrubs can be planted from pots at any time, as long as they are well watered at planting and every couple of weeks until they show signs of active growth. It is time to clip hedges of all kinds before the wood of the stems gets tough. Rambler roses should be pruned as the flowers fade, removing some of the shoots that have just flowered and allowing new ones produced from ground level or near it  to take their place.

More on Trees, Shrubs and Roses

 Trees | Shrubs | Hedges | Mixed borders

Continue watering and feeding flowers in containers of all kinds — they should be approaching their peak now with masses of colour. Tackle weeds in flower borders before the seeds are shed. Even if these borders were cleaned earlier, there are always a few weeds that survive, often in the middle of a clump of some plant or other. Pull these out now as most kinds are in flower and on the verge of setting seeds. If weeds are prevented from shedding seeds, it is remarkable how a weed problem is lessened.

More on Flowers

 Perennial flowers | Flower beds | Rockery | Containers

In lawns on dry soil, clover can be very obvious as it remains green when the grass browns in a hot dry spell. If the whole areas has clover, it can look very well, but usually the clover plants are patchy. Do not water a lawn in dry weather as grass always recovers because drought does not last long enough to kill it. When rain falls in good amounts be ready to apply some lawn fertilizer if this has not already been done. In a wet year, the grass may not need feeding, especially if there have been thundertorms as lightning releases nitrogen from the air.  

More on Lawns

 Lawns

Make some late sowings of lettuce, swiss chard, chinese stir-fry vegetables and radishes. Listen for blight warnings in wet weather periods and control should be kept up, especially for maincrop potatoes and on outdoor tomatoes. The early varieties will generally be used up before the disease harms the tubers. Remove vegetables that have gone over. If the soil is dry, vegetables, including potatoes and sweet corn, might need some watering. 

More on Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs

 Fruit growing | Vegetables | Herbs

Continue watering and feeding greenhouse plants. Watch for red spider mites on a peach tree, also on decorative plants such as bananas. Busy lizzie is a very good indicator plant for red spider mites and it is worth having a plant for this purpose - it is often first to attract red spider. Check all evergreens such as citrus and gardenia for scale insects which can cause serious damage. Train and side-shoot tomatoes and cucumbers. Take semi-hardwood cuttings of deciduous shrubs in the greenhouse, inserting them in compost made of two parts peat/ one part sand or vermiculite, use rooting powder.

More on Greenhouse and House Plants

 Greenhouse growing