August is the perfect time to enjoy your garden in the summer sunshine. Here’s our advice on what to to do and plant in the garden.

1. Clip deciduous hedges

Now’s the time to clip deciduous hedges, such as Beech, Hawthorn, Birch and Hornbeam. Use shears or a hedge trimmer to cut off all of the new growth right back to the original hedge-line. Hedge cuttings can be added to your compost heap.

2. Trimming lavender

It’s important to cut back lavender once the flowering is finished, in order to promote new growth, don’t be afraid to give it a good hard pruning and cut it back to the brown but not quite as far as the wood.

3. Sweet pea seed gathering

Do not harvest Sweet Pea seed pods until after the shell has become brittle. If you do, they won’t germinate so be careful and make sure they are ready.

The ideal time is when the pods are just starting to split, take the pods indoors and empty them onto a sheet of newspaper. Leave for several days to dry out, then store in a jar or other suitable container.

4. Water the lawn

During August your lawn can start to look a little dry and may take on a yellow tinge. It’s best to water your lawn by setting up a sprinkler and moving it to different parts of the garden, every two hours after the midday sun, this way your lawn can enjoy a good soak.

5. Look out for powdery mildew

Powdery Mildew is common in late summer, you may notice it on Aquilegias and Impatiens. It’s easy to spot as it forms a powdery white coating on the leaves of your plants, any bedding plants suffering badly from powdery mildew should be pulled out and removed from the garden.

Don’t put them on your compost heap the spores can spread into your compost and will cause problems with your other plants. Perennial Plants such as Aquilegia should be cut back to ground level.

For more advice, read our Powdery Mildew Guide.

We hope this guide has provided lots of ideas of what to do and plant in the garden in August. Why not get started by looking at our fantastic range of bedding plants.