August Gardening Tips 2025
Our gardens really have been put through their paces this year. After a sunny spring and prolonged hot dry spell we’ve been treated to some glorious downpours before it turned dry again. I really love the scent that lingers after summer rain. I am sure the plants are grateful too – even if they have been a little flattened by the rain at times.
Looking good in my garden at the moment are a host of perennials. Some have flopped in the rain and needed to be re-staked. But fortunately most have suffered no great damage. Echinacea, Sedums, Phlox, perennial Geranium, Liatris, Monarda and Alstroemeria are looking particularly fine, while I am really looking forward to our Hibiscus flowering which I hope will be in a week or so. Hydrangeas are good value in the garden at this time of year. Lace cap or paniculata their flower heads are always a joy in blue, pink, white and an almost green. Fuchsias (hardy and bedding) are also at their peak.
Bedding plants are doing their utmost to flower their socks off as they will right through to the first frosts if fed and watered and dead headed. They are so useful to fill in gaps in the border (Antirrhinums do this for us) and to make a bold splash in containers. My favourite combination this year is a pink Geranium with a blue Nemesia, which I think look quite stunning against the cream wall of our house. Sweet peas are always a joy and really do flower on and on if they are fed watered and their flower stems cut as often as possible. I have a vase just inside our front door to welcome guests (and neutralise the occasional scent of wet spaniel)
Our roses are between their first and second flush of flowers. Having been rigorously dead headed, we have applied a feed to encourage further flowering.
If you want to have a go at propagating yourself, this is the time to take semi hardwood cuttings of Ceanothus, Philadelphus, Escallonia and other shrubs. Take cuttings from this year’s healthy growth using a clean sharp knife or secateurs. The simplest method is to make two cuts just below a leaf to give a piece of stem approximately 4 to 6 inches. Take off the lower leaves leaving about four on each cutting. Dip the stem in hormone rooting powder and place in a pot of potting compost which can be mixed with some sharp sand. Water and then place in a plastic bag out of direct sunlight or in a greenhouse. Do not allow the cuttings to dry out, and once they are rooted well you can harden them off in an unheated greenhouse, or under some fleece, before potting on or planting out.
August should be a time of plenty in the vegetable garden, with beans of all sorts, courgettes, potatoes, carrots and all sorts of salad crops delivering a succession of deliciousness with no food miles. However, it is also time to plan ahead and sow some winter vegetables. You can also take strawberry runners from parent plants to increase your stock for next year. It is time to prune redcurrants, gooseberries and summer fruiting raspberries that have fruited already. Take care not to prune the autumn fruiting raspberry varieties.
If you are fortunate enough to have a pond, take out any decaying water lily leaves and thin out other water plants as necessary.
Whether you are ‘vacationing’ or ‘staycationing’ I hope you have a lovely and relaxing August enjoying all that the garden has to offer.
