THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Jul14

Garden Jobs July

So many garden jobs in July. But the first garden job in July? Stop your weeding and mowing for a moment and SMELL THE ROSES!

(You’ve got to enjoy your garden too, no…?)

Madame Alfred Carriere
Madame Alfred Carriere

What other jobs are worth doing in the garden now July is here?

Start with pruning the fruit trees that have st0nes, like cherries and plums.

Remember to water your pots.

Remove suckers from lime trees and lightly prune any plants you are trying to pleach.

Deadhead and feed the roses.

Weedkill and feed the lawns. If you really must.

Take a look at any spring flowering shrubs and cut them back to shape now, right after they have finished flowering.

Deadhead in your herbaceous border – got Delphiniums? Well done! Impressed! Cut the spent flower now and enjoy a second, smaller flower soon…

Harvest in the fruit patch – strawberries, raspberries, cherries and gooseberries are amazing to eat now!

Start eating the broad beans…

To be fair… July is a great month for jobs in the garden…

For more detailed information, try one of these books from Amazon:

(And this one from Alan Titchmarsh, priced at £24, can be found for just 1p! Good if you are a beginner for all the advice you need about garden jobs for July…)

Nov06

Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue

With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …

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Nov06

Aesthetic Pruners Association – New Talk In December

An organisation I love and have been learning lots from in the last two years is the Aesthetic Pruners Association based in the USA. Sharing knowledge with them about clipping and the overlap – and differences! – in style is something worth exploring, so I recommend a visit to their website and to join onto their events and talks, which are all on Zoom meaning you can access them from anywhere in the world. No excuse not to learn! The next event will be led by Jocelyn Cohen and be about ancient trees in the British Landscape. This is such …

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Oct29

The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus

Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …

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