THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Gardening Jobs August
What are the gardening jobs to do in August?
1) Make hay while the sun shines (you can always do this by scything…)
2) Prune wisteria.
3) Deadhead your dahlias.
4) Be water-wise (don’t water your lawn, use harvested rainwater instead of tap water. If you haven’t harvested any rainwater, try somewhere like Harrod Horticultural for ideas.)
5) Start thinking about ordering bulbs for planting in Autumn – we are doing a garden design in Upminster, Essex at the moment and will be adding lots of daffodils – cannot wait!
6) Use up your courgettes – put them in chocolate cake, barbeque them, slice them thinly, add creme fraiche and then grate lemon zest over the top – they are a brilliant vegetable. We are growing Striato d’Napoli this year and it looks great…
7) Harvest your blackcurrants (what do you mean you haven’t planted any blackcurrants?) and make cassis or add to porridge. Yum!
8) Trim your yew and beech hedging.
9) It’s hot. So enjoy the last days of summer and don’t work too hard…
For more in depth knowledge on what to do now, try these books…
RHS Gardening Through The Year
Four-season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
Topiary, The Art Garden at The Henderson
The Art Garden at The Henderson in Hong-Kong has now opened to the public. I joined the project last March, to work with Gillespies Landscape Architects on the topiary that had been designed for the Art Garden, which gives a calm, green space below the extraordinary Henderson skyscraper designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The garden has been designed with butterflies in mind, so lots of nectar plants, and has other art projects and installations within its footprint. The history of the site is interesting too – it was originally the first cricket ground in Hong-Kong! So still a green space….! …
ClipFest 2025
On Sunday June 22nd there will be Clipfest 2025 at Ichi-Coo Park in Surrey. It is a celebration of all things pruning and topiary, and I will be there in my capacity of teacher at the European Boxwood and Topiary Society to demonstrate tool cleaning and sharpening, and how to clip. Tickets can be found here on Eventbrite. We are hoping for great weather and to see lots of keen pruners getting their shears out and joining us at this amazing garden! And for more on topiary…
Secateur Holders
A present arrived from Norway today, from a student who visited last February to work with Chris Poole and I on learning topiary. His new hobby – a beautiful and neatly stitched secateur holder. Thrilled with this! The holder will save me keep losing my secatuers too…! Thank you Bernt! It was the same student who introduced me to the APA with whom I am doing a talk at the end of March. Tickets can be bought here for ‘Defining The Essence – Aesthetic Pruning in the Garden’. Do join the European Boxwood and Topiary Society for that!