Here we are mid-August already.
Our gardens are now performing at their peak with herbaceous in full bloom, summer bedding planted in hanging baskets and containers in full colour.
The veg plot is bursting with produce ready to be harvested for the plate or placed in storage for eating over the winter.
Changes to gardening mindset
I feel like I’m writing this in near late summer perfection this week too.
Sitting outdoors on a Sunday morning, sunny, clear blue skies and a warm temperature, surrounded by all my favourite plants.
Oh and drinking a nice cup of tea. Just bliss.
I also look at this point in the gardening calendar where my mindset changes.
Whether it’s because very shortly my garden will start retreating for the winter so will grow no more for this year or something to do with the kids going back to school and the thoughts of them moving on to the next stages of their life and development.
I’m not sure.
All I know is that right now my internal gardening clock is making me look around and assess how well my garden is doing.
Adjustments for next year and beyond
I’m starting to think about what adjustments and new plans I’d like to make for next year and beyond.
The front garden I like to keep low maintenance so the lawn in here, which takes up the vast majority of this space, I don’t cut weekly in a traditional manner.
I like to play with the grass leaving a shape in the middle uncut all summer treating like a meadow.
Then I have an outer shape I cut every three weeks or so at my mowers highest setting.
A meandering path which separates the areas is cut weekly as is a border around the edge of the lawn which helps make frame this feature.
The yellow rattle I sowed in the meadow last autumn is established now so will hopefully reduce the vigour of the grass allowing other wildflowers to establish.
I’ll save sowing that until next spring.
But the outer circle which has a short display of spring Crocus, needs more oomph!
Time to secure the best spring bulbs
With the autumn months of September and October for planting more bulbs, I need to get scouring through the catalogues before all the good ones are snapped up.
The lawn here gets quite mossy so I think this September I’m going to hire out one of those powered scarifiers and do the job properly.
Late summer/early autumn is the perfect time for carrying out lawn maintenance where subsequent bare soil will be the perfect bed for the wildflower seed.
Up until 2020 my main garden area was really a play ground and sports pitch for my two kids with only a few plantings.
But when Covid-19 came and we had to film Beechgrove Garden from our homes, I thought I’d better do something more with it.
My rectangular herbaceous border was running out of empty space so without going crazy and giving myself too much extra work, I increased its size by putting more of a curve at the one end.
I like this new shape where I’d say this year the whole border has looked it’s best.
I don’t put too much thought in to this bed where when I pick up a new plant from the nurseries it goes in where my instinct tells me I think it will do best.
Grasses, Phlox, Alstromeria ‘Indian Summer’, Day-Lillies, Catmint, Veronicastrum and purple foliaged Heliopsis ‘Burning Hearts’ all combine to create an unashamedly brash, kaleidoscopic of colour.
Best way to grown herbaceous perennials
All herbaceous perennials like these benefit from being dug out the ground, split up into smaller clumps, the soil improved with the addition of organic matter before then being replanted, every three to four years.
Looking at some of the clumps, I would say this sounds about right.
When I first started gardening we would mostly tackle this during autumn.
But since then thinking has changed to us leaving the dead foliage of some standing to give our gardens interest over the winter months.
So today, anything that keeps seed heads in place or manages to stay erect I keep, only removing the spent foliage that collapses and makes a messy clump on the ground. There’s a job for March 2024 already in the diary.
Success of new fruit cage
My new fruit cage has been a success this summer in protecting my juicy crops from birds, if not from my teenage son but that’s allowed.
I’ve a good mix in here though but I would still love a yellow coloured Raspberry ‘All Gold’ to complete.
I was too late purchasing a plant this year as I thought I could pick up a potted version anytime.
Cane fruits are only really available in spring coming in bundles so my order will be made early in the new year so not to miss out.
I think it’s a good idea to keep a gardening diary, taking notes of the likes of jobs needing doing, plant flowering times and bed plans.
It’s always nice to also keep a wish list of plants you’d like too.
Christmas isn’t far away either and folk are always looking for ideas!
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