The last month of summer is the best time to enjoy your garden while it’s still at it’s very best. The school holidays are on, the harvest time is here and there’s much fruit and veg to fill your plate.
As the harvest is under way, see these tips you can sow and grow:
- Keep patio container plants well watered and feed with a liquid fertiliser every fortnight.
- Dead-head bedding plants and perennials to encourage them to flower into the autumn and stop them self-seeding.
- Clear away any diseased and spent foliage around your veg plants to discourage pests and diseases spreading.
- Cut back herbs to encourage a new flush of tasty leaves that you can harvest before the frost. Dry or freeze leftover herbs to use in the kitchen later on.
- Protect your crops with a bird scarer made from CDs tied to string.
- Use blinds or apply shade paint to prevent the greenhouse from over-heating in sunny weather.
- Don’t feed your lawn with a high-nitrogen fertiliser now as this will encourage lots of lush new growth which is easily damaged by autumn weather.
- If you’re planning on laying a new lawn this autumn, prepare the area now to give it time to settle.
- Use boiling water as a weed killer on your paved areas. Weeds wilt and die within a few days.
