Gardening Jobs for August

  • Tie in long shoots of rambling roses and then cut back a third of the oldest stems to the base. Shorten off side shoots by two thirds.
  • Keep picking peas and beans as the more you pick the more pods will form.
  • Order spring bulbs to make sure you get your pick of the varieties.
  • Shorten the long whips growth on Wisteria back to five or six leaves.
  • Sow quick maturing salad crops for an autumn crop.
  • Water rhododendrons and camellias with rain water to encourage the formation of next year’s flower buds to form.
  • Collect seed from hardy annuals.
  • Support branches of fruit trees that are heavy with fruit.
  • Prune summer fruiting raspberries. Cut back woody canes at ground level when the plant has finished cropping. Tie in six to eight healthy new canister plant and remove any excess ones to allow air movement through the plant.
  • Leave grass piles for worms. when you have finished mowing tuck a pile out of sight beneath shrubs attract more worms to your garden.
  • Damp down your greenhouse on hot days.
  • Lift and dry onions.
  • Summer prune espalier apples. Cut back side shoots growing directly from the horizontal branches three or four leaves above the basal cluster.
  • Give wildflower areas a summer hay cut. Leave the cut material for a day or two to allow the seeds to drop, then rake it up and remove into help reduce soil fertility.
  • Top up ponds.
  • Trim conifer hedges. Trim green foliage tightly but don’t cut into the brown wood as it won’t regrow. Check for active bird’s nests before trimming.

Gardening jobs for July

  • Prune deciduous Magnolias. If this is done at other times of the year it can cause plant bleeding.
  • Use grey water from baths sinks and showers within 24 hours for flowering plants, not edibles.
  • Prune early summer flowering shrubs.
  • Sw cabbages.
  • Keep on top of weeds by hoeing on a dry day.
  • Remove fruit tree suckers as close to the soil as possible.
  • Do not water the lawn! It will recover once rain starts again.
  • Prune gooseberries and currants.
  • Take cuttings of penstemon, lavender and salvias.
  • Leave some nettles for food for caterpillars of butterflies such as the Red Admiral.
  • Give newly planted trees and shrubs a drink. A good soaking is better than little and often.
  • Water celery, fennel and celeriac.
  • Cut back hardy geraniums, which will give you a second flush of flowers later in the year.
  • Deadhead bedding plants.
  • Tie in climbers.

Gardening Jobs for June

Shade out your greenhouse. Open up doors and windows and on very hot days hose down the floor

Plant young sweetcorn plants in blocks rather than rows as it is pollinated by wind

Harvest early potatoes when flowers open or buds drop. Tubers are ready to harvest when they are the size of hens’ eggs

Boost your sweet peas. Keep feeding and tying in your sweet peas. Frequent deadheading will provide you more flowers

Take softwood cuttings. Young growth makes great softwood cuttings at this time of year, rooting readily. Take non flowering shoots up to 10cm long from deciduous shrubs such as fuchsias, mopped hydrangeas and mock orange

Raise mower blades in drought if you have a traditional lawn. This will help the lawn become more drought resistant, encouraging deeper rooting of the grass

Chop early perennials. After flowering, cut Oriental poppies, lupins and delphiniums back to the base for a new flush of foliage and , potentially, more flowers

Feed tomatoes. Use a high potassium(potash) feed once the flowers start to set.

Stake floppy flowers such as delphiniums and sunflowers

Sow kale, calabrese, spring cauliflower, Savoy cabbage, turnips and kohl Rabi for autumn and winter harvests

Mid June to mid July is the ideal time to sow Florence fennel.

Courgettes, pumpkins and marrows can be sown directly outdoors in warmer parts of the country in early June. Choose a sunny site and add plenty of organic matter

Lettuce and other salad leaves. Keep sowing small amounts every few weeks. in mid summer leafy salad crops may do better in part shaded spots, as hot dry weather can lead to bitter tasting leaves

French and runner beans can be sown directly into the soil or in small pots ready to plant out in a few weeks. For climbing beans, put supports in place first.

Gardening jobs for May

  • Continue harvesting asparagus, cut spears 2.5cm below the soil when they are no more than 18cm high. Well established beds can be harvested for 8 weeks.
  • Prune early spring shrubs such as Forsythia and Ribes after flowering. Remove one in three stems at the base and cut back flowered stems to strong buds lower down the stem.
  • Keep the lawnmower in the shed for no mow May.
  • Check Gooseberries for sawfly larvae.
  • Remove growth frosted in Spring.
  • Divide spring bulbs.
  • Look out for box moth. Look out for webbing and defoliation. Remove any caterpillars that you spot by hand or use a biological control.
  • Sow winter veg such as purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower.
  • Sow French and runner beans direct after the risk of frost has passed in mid-May depending on geographical area.
  • Continue to make successional sowing od beetroot, carrots, radish, lettuce etc.
  • Regularly hoe off weeds choosing a dry day so the seedlings will die on the soil surface.
  • Prune wall trained Pyracantha
  • Protect strawberries from birds with netting.
  • Care for new plantings. Water newly planted trees and shrubs, ideally with rain water.
  • Leave hedges to ensure that nesting birds are not disturbed.
  • Switch off garden lights in the evening to prevent change in animal behaviour, lights angled towards the ground are better.
  • Harden off tender plants by placing plants in a cold frame or outside in a sheltered spot on a mild day, bringing them in at night.
  • Weed paths and patios.

Gardening jobs for February

Plant snowdrops, pick out your favourite cultivar and plant them in the green, when they are in full leaf. These will establish much better than dry bulbs planted in the autumn.

Prune roses, you can prune most shrub roses now. Remove one or two stems from the base and take the rest back by a third. Feed with organic granular feed afterwards.

Move shrubs. As long as the ground isn’t waterlogged or frozen you can move most deciduous shrubs now. Dig them up with as much root as possible and replant immediately.

Prune apples and pears. Start with branches crowding the centre and remove no more than a quarter of the canopy.

Cut back late flowering clematis in pruning group 3 (such as Viticellas). Cut all growth to healthy buds 15-30cm above soil level.

Protect your soil. Keep off the soil to avoid compaction, which can lead to water logging and creating challenging growing conditions.

Sow peppers and chillies. These need a long growing season so sow now in a heated propagator or on a sunny windowsill.

Prune citrus plants. Thin out overcrowded branches and if growth has become straggly cut back by up to two thirds.

Gardening Jobs for January

  • Ventilate your greenhouse by opening the vents on sunny days
  • Keep birds safe by positioning the feeding station near shrubs for shelter, so small birds can dive for cover
  • Deadhead winter bedding and add more plants where there are gaps
  • Protect peaches by covering with polythene to protect new shoots from the rain bourne fungus peach leaf curl
  • Prune gooseberries, remove branches scraping the ground and some of the older branches. Aim to have an open goblet shape.
  • Trim hellebores by cutting off any leaves disfigured by black spot