Mzzz B's August Garden

Speckled wood butterfly

Comma butterfly on my colourful shirt.

Peacock butterflies on Buddleia Dartmoor

Jobs for the August Garden

Butterflies have now re-emerged with the buddlieas! Our large Buddleia Dartmoor is covered in them- comma, red admiral,peacock and tortoiseshell butterflies. This is the second hatch of butterflies of this summer and although some look a bit ragged, others look as though they are straight out of their chrysalis! The speckled wood kindly posed for a photo on the hedge. Other insects are also numerous including honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees. Wasps are causing a bit of a problem, we clearly have nests of them near our outdoor table, but they are very hard to find. The badgers who live at the edge of the garden frequently find wasps and bees nest for us but usually in the wilder areas of the garden. This is the time of the year when wasps become annoying as they are seeking sugars- eating your lovely plums, and pears. I put out wasp traps – jars of marmalade or jam that have been finished but not washed out then half filled with water. They are sometimes successful! You can also buy glass wasp traps to hang on fruit trees. Wasps nest are incredible structures but be very careful approaching them, wait til its late evening when they have all gone inside before you attempt to use a wasp spray on them. And if a wasp flies around you the advice is to stay very still and not to swat them as this makes them more likely to sting.
We have been very lucky with all the rain we have had, but with the very hot weather plants will be again under stress. If you have plants in pots, put some sort of tray or saucer under them to contain water, and have groups of pots. This will provide them with a damp microclimate. The grass will recover if it goes brown, but overnight dew is helping. Only water very early morning or evening, and water plants at the roots. If you have a greenhouse wet the floor to reduce the temperature.

Jobs for the August Garden.

• There is still time to sow salad crops like lettuce and radish.
• Sow winter salad crops like Mizuna and Mibuna- peppery leaves which can be eaten raw or cooked in stir fries.
• Dead head and cut back perennials that have gone over, its amazing how much better the garden looks after this treatment.
• Semi ripe cuttings can be taken of shrubs and planted where the stems have started to harden, we took some Cistus cuttings a couple of weeks ago and it looks like they have already started to regrow! For more information on taking cuttings look at Monty Don's Tips and Advice online.
• Order bulbs for next year, to plant in September or October, but do not plant tulips until November. Beware mice eating your bulbs in pots, and cover them with a mouse proof mesh. We lost whole pots full of tulips last year.
• Now the bird nesting season is over hedges can be cut.
• Prune lavender to keep it looking good, and to allow it to regrow before the autumn.
• Collect seed- let it dry then store in paper envelopes or bags, making sure to label clearly. Some hardy annuals like cornflowers can be sown immediately and in the spring, doing both gives you annuals at different times of the summer.
• Cut back mini meadows and bigger areas of long grass, now the seeds have dropped. If you can cut it quite low, then sow yellow rattle seed into it. This will germinate in the autumn and start to diminish the vigour of the grass allowing more space for wildflowers.

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