Herald - Issue 410

Page 48 • The HERALD • 5th August 2021 v SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES v Fred Hurst 023 8084 2191 or 07761 467217 • Grass Cutting • Garden Clearance • Hedge Cutting • Fallen Trees Cleared • Mini Digger Hire with Operator • Property Clearance • Small Demolition • Tractor Flail Cutting FULLY INSURED v FREE QUOTATIONS | DOWN THE GARDEN PATH | August is usually one of the hottest months of the year - making watering essential. Try to use grey water wherever possible, especially as water butts may be running low if it has been a dry summer. August is traditionally holiday-time, so you might need to enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden while you are away. When you are at home, take the time to prune Wisteria and summer-flowering shrubs such as lavender once they’ve finished flowering. Top 10 jobs this month 1. Prune Wisteria. 2. Don’t delay summer pruning fruits trained as restricted forms. 3. Deadhead owering plants regularly. 4. Watering! - particularly containers, and new plants, preferably with grey recycled water or stored rainwater. 5. Collect seed from garden plants. 6. Harvest sweetcorn and other vegetables as they become ready. 7. Continue cutting out old fruited canes on raspberries. 8. Li and pot up rooted strawberry runners. 9. Keep ponds and water features topped up. 10. Feed the soil with green manures. August Sultry Late Summer Advice from RHS THE EXPERT GARDENER! by Dorothy Lockyer Through this pandemic I’ve tried to be wise Serious gardening as an enterprise. A Greenhouse for starters, with pots and trays Packets of seed, no time for malaise! Into the compost, the seeds duly laid, A warm atmosphere giving sunshine and shade. There are runner beans, cauliflowers and leeks, Potatoes to chit; plant out in two weeks. Tomato plants will come to no harm, As I chat to them and work my charm! Flower seeds are sown, hanging baskets too, Such a picture there’ll be of colour and hue. ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀ What excitement as the seeds start to grow, Prick them out, plant on, such attention I show! Into prepared beds, they are eager to grow, As I water, remove any weeds with the hoe. Alas, one morning, what a sorry sight, Potato plants had keeled over with blight. The blackfly have found the beans as their host, Cauliflowers invited, as if through the post. An army of caterpillars to lunch, It’s unbelievable how much they can munch! Well I tried to be wise, it didn’t quite work, I have to admit feeling a bit of a jerk! My vision of how the garden would look. Is a page, I’m afraid, in a gardening book! Lost Gardens of Heligan Now that the future is looking brighter, Blackfield Gardening Club is delighted to announce that they plan to resume their meetings in the Autumn, all taking place on the second Tuesday in the month. e rst meeting will be on Tuesday 14th September when Christine Bennett will be presenting an illustrated talk on the ‘Lost Gardens of Heligan’. Subsequently on Tuesday 12th October Martin Perry will be presenting ‘Friends with Bene ts’ (Companion planting) and, on Tuesday 9th November Ron Taylor will be tracing the flora and fauna around Southampton Water from Broadlands to Spithead. All meetings start at 7.30pm at St Francis Church Hall, St Francis Road (off West Common) Langley, SO45 1XP. ey are really looking forward to seeing members and visitors again (visitors £2). Enquiries please call: 023 8024 3795.