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
Start of the Whitby Topiary Library
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Delivery After Dark – From the Makers of The Amelia Project
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Modern Topiary (The Book) – Message From Lady Clippers, And Others!
My topiary book – Modern Topiary – has recently been put out as a PDF, which can be read for free. (Have a look here to download and read/share it!) Then last week I received a lovely email from Ann Perkowski of Lady Clippers, who are topiary and pruning specialists in New York (Ann is a brilliant pruning teacher too, who teaches at New York Botanical Garden… check out her work and Lady Clippers website.) Hi Darren, I had to write you how much I love reading your Modern Topiary. I’m not sure I’ll ever be quite done with it because I’m …