Everything you need to grow...
Hot off the trowel
Gardens to Gander
The weather has been brutal this summer, with us in West Sussex having to ensure 8 weeks with little or no rain at all. I suspect most gardens will be suffering badly, but hopefully there will
still be some gardens hanging on and worth visiting.
West Dean Gardens open Mon-Fri 09.30am - 5.00pm.
Sat-Sun 09.00am - 5.00pm
The National Garden Scheme (NGS)
Look on their website and find a garden near you to visit.
Woolbeding Gardens.
The gardens open again on Thursdays and Fridays only as from 24th April. Pre-booking is required for everyone.
Insector Clueso!
The Asian Hornet has arrived in the UK, and hundreds of nests have been destroyed. However, it looks as though they have been the tip of the iceberg. They are avaricious insects that target most of our pollinators.
Our honey bees are at serious risk of their hives being invaded and the colonies being wiped out. These predators are smaller than the European Hornet, which is not a threat. The Asian Hornet can be identified by its yellow leg ends and a wide orange band towards the rear of its abdomen.
If you see one, please report it using the iPhone and Android ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ app. Alternatively, email: alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk
please include a photo if you can do so safely.
Weeders Digest
Wall & Water Gardens - Gertrude Jekyll
When a fellow garden club member recently acquired their new property — with a delightfully walled serene lily pond garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll — it seemed like the perfect time to return to Jekyll’s own wisdom on water in the garden.
Wall & Water Gardens is a timeless classic, written by one of the greatest garden designers of the English tradition. In its pages, Jekyll shares practical yet poetic guidance on designing dry-walled terraces, rock-gardens, stream gardens, ponds and marshy water features — and crucially, on selecting the right plants for water, marsh and alpine settings.
We recommend this book to anyone who loves the elegant marriage of stone, water and planting — If you’re curious about what kinds of aquatic or moisture-loving plants to try or how to balance structure and wildness around water, Jekyll’s book is still a deeply relevant, inspiring guide.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wall-Water-Gardens-Gertrude-Jekyll/dp/0881430021
Top gardening jobs for August
August is usually one of the hottest months of the year, making watering essential, particularly this year. Use greywater when you can. August is traditionally holiday time, so you might need to enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden whilst you are away. When you are home, take the time to prune wisteria and summer flowering shrubs such as lavender once they’ve finished flowering
Top gardening jobs this month
1. Prune wisteria
2. Summer prune trained apples and pears
3. Deadhead flowering plants regularly
4. Water containers and new plants, preferably with grey water
5. Collect seeds from garden plants
6. Harvest sweetcorn and other vegetables as they become ready
7. Cut out old fruited canes on raspberries
8. Lift and pot up rooted strawberry runners
9. Keep ponds and water features topped up if you can.
10. Improve the soil with green manure.
Musings
The brilliant poppy….
Adds her voice to sell the song that August’s
here again’
Helen Winslow
‘August is the bridge between Summer and Autumn -
Between how the year has been and how the year will end’.
Anon
‘Some things are thriving.
Some things are fried.
And somehow, the courgette is still
multiplying behind our backs’
Anon
‘August is ripening grain in the fields and a warm
breeze on your face, and the sun’s golden light on
your back. It’s the time of hot-coloured blooms, of
chilli peppers and tomatoes ripening on the vine’
Denise Leverton
‘August is the month when the sun beats down and the
flowers are in full bloom. It’s a time to enjoy the simple
pleasures of life, like the taste of fresh berries and the
sound of the ocean waves’
Melanie Gideon
‘The change always comes about mid August, and it always
catches me by surprise. I mean, the day when I know that
summer is fraying at the edges, that September isn’t far off
and autumn is just over the hill or up the valley.'
Hal Borland
And finally………….
It’s always summer somewhere……..
