Welcome to August
in the garden
‘Come forth into the light of things and let nature be your teacher.’ William Wordsworth.
Great ground cover helps in the hot weather to keep moisture in the ground when it rains and aids watering. A trailing Geranium is a good choice such as a ‘Cranesbill’ like this one. There are lots of different ones to choose from and all will be enjoyed by the insects, bees, butterflies, and moths who will help with pollinating your plants too. We are promised the weather will turn more seasonally sunny by the middle of this month; fingers crossed.
The butterfly count continues this month.
https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
Notting Hill Carnival and the Edinburgh Festival both take place this month.
1st Full moon in Aquarius.
2nd Sow/plant root vegetables, tubers until the 8th. Sow some turnips now to harvest in October.
9th Barren phase to harvest, meditate in the garden no sowing or planting until the 15th.
9th to15th National Allotment Week.
15th The feast of Assumption to honour the death of the Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus.
16th New moon in Leo.
17th Sow/plant flowers and green vegetables until 31st. Sow some Brussel sprouts.
19th World Photography Day. Tweet your best pictures to me @Nature_Notes20
28th Summer bank holiday.
31st Full Moon Pisces.
Things to do this month.
Seeds can be collected from the garden and allotment now. Two to try are poppies, and nigella store them in a paper bag in a dark place until you are ready to sow or swap them. On Twitter you can swap seeds and find things you would like to add to your garden or allotment look for @swapyourseeds. You can also take cutting from annuals like salvia now that you can bring on for planting out next year.
This is the month to start thinking about buying in bulbs for next spring and summer, the tulips, daffodils, and alliums. As more people are getting into gardening the popular ones sell out quickly in the garden centres and nurseries. Buying bulbs on-line is a good option as you can order now, and they will deliver them in time for autumn planting out. There is a list of useful online nurseries at the end of this month for you.
As you harvest from the garden or allotment now and if you have an overflow, could you be mindful of your local food bank and give them some healthy vegetables to put in their food boxes, all counties have them, see how you can help out. The Trussell Trust here will guide you to your local area: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/.
Create a bee bowl, fill a 20 to 30cm wide bowl, 10 to 20 cm deep with stones and fill with water, this will allow the bees and other insects to sit and perch to drink without getting stuck in the water and it is lovely to watch them.
For seeds:
https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/
For bulbs:
Enjoy this summer month of August and if you are on holiday in this country or another, see if you can visit a garden there, that could inspire you when you get home to bring in new plants or a new garden scheme project for you do over winter.
See you in September.
Louisa 🌱