As well as writing about grandparenting, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall is a garden designer (winner of two Chelsea Flower Show Gold medals) and writer. Her books include Gardening Made Easy and Garden Plants Made Easy.
The Garden in July and August
At this time of year there is so much dead-heading to be done that I scarcely have time for anything else. The garden immediately looks ten times better if I manage to cut out the spent stems of herbaceous plants and snip off dead rose flowers. If only roses would die more gracefully. I can’t remember a better year for roses than this, but now they are coming to the end of their glorious June display. Repeat-flowering roses will delight us again in late summer/early autumn. To make sure they perform well, now is the time for their summer feed. Scatter granular fertilizer around their root area or sprinkle a tablespoon of Epsom Salts per plant – some rose gurus swear by it. You can also water on a solution of 1 teaspoon of Epsom Salts to a gallon of water.
If your roses are troubled with blackspot, remove all infected leaves (including those on the ground) and burn them. I sometimes find myself cutting off whole branches – the plants always recover. You may then want to spray the plants with a product such as Roseclear.
As climbing roses and other climbing plants make new growth, tie the stems in to their supports.
If you haven’t yet done so, it’s time to prune shrubs that have flowered in spring and early summer , like Cytisus, Deutzia, Lilac, Viburnum, Weigela. If you stick to a general rule of pruning early flowering shrubs immediately after flowering, you can’t go far wrong. Cut back stems that have flowered, leaving any vigorous new growth to bear next year’s flowers. When bushes grow congested, remove one third of the stems from as near the base of the plant as possible.
When hardy geraniums and violas have finished flowering, cut back the plants to just a few inches above ground. If you are going on holiday, do this just before you go, and by the time you return, they will have made cushions of fresh foliage, and may flower again, although less prolifically.
If summer hots up, restrict your gardening activity to early morning and evening, wear a shady hat when working in the sun, and pause often for a long, cool drink. If, like me, you’re past the stage of worrying about a suntan, you’ll feel cooler in a loose long-sleeved shirt than a sleeveless top.
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