Traditionally, August used to be the month when the great harvest gathering got under way, but these days of climate change that happened weeks ago, even starting in June in places.
After a poor month for weather in July, you might be forgiven for looking forward to putting your feet up sprawled out on your sun lounger with the ubiquitous glass of something long and cold under a blazing August sun on your pot filled terrace patiently waiting for your other half to produce a chef's special of BBQ'd and subtly marinated spare ribs while the kids are inside concocting the accompanying Mediterranean style salad.
Dream on because August is also summer pruning time so it's out with the heavy cutting gear along with the long pruning shears, secateurs and varied telescopic, extendable, cutting edge technology.
Where to start? Well what about that wisteria? If wisteria was a chess piece it would trump the queen all ends up as it can not only go in any go in any direction at will cutting swathes through pawns, knights, bishops and rooks, but does so, like the French TGV, at breakneck speed. Coming a close second in the garden bullying stakes is the passion flower. In fact readers of this blog may recall that a few short months ago, Izzy had the idea to train a tendril of her passion flower on to her long lamented defunct tree fern to try and disguise the ugly dead stump still occupying centre spot in one of her best stoneware pots......look at it now in early August! no sign of the ex-tree fern and very soon there will be no sign of the pot.
Cutting back these last two rampant tearaways will not only keep them trimmed and tidy, but will also stimulate new growth for next time round.
Lavender, salvias and the like will also benefit from a good haircut at this time of year, but don't cut back too hard into the plants, just enough to smarten them up - when asked 'what is the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut?' the only answer must be 'two weeks'. Simple and easy pruning aka 'deadheading' of roses, geraniums and like should be a daily task whilst wandering around the garden persuading the plant to use its energy in producing a burst of new flowers rather than making seed for next year;
Whilst winter pruning of trees is the norm, apples, pears, cherries and plum trees can benefit from a summer pruning by taking out the new shooting growth at the top of the tree to allow light and air to penetrate the centre and keeping the shape and height under control for future ease of access and maintenance.
You will have observed, no doubt, as you sip your long cold something in your August garden relaxer, that the sun is setting further and further southwards towards the due westerly point of the September equinox reminding us that the nights will very soon be drawing in so enjoy the summer warmth and daylight while you can.
P.S. Of course it's not the sun that's moving, it's the earth rotating on its axis which gives us the illusion that the sun is moving in the sky!
