August is an abundant month. Many of your fruit trees and plants will provide you with plenty of the freshest fruit to eat during late summer, while in terms of garden tasks, the time is ripe to prepare for next summer’s fruit season.
Fruit tasks for August
Water trees and plants during dry weather and hoe around plants to keep weeds at bay.
Feed any citrus trees with a specially formulated citrus fertiliser.
Any fruit plants in pots of hanging baskets should be fed with a high potash liquid feed.
Tie any grapevines to supports.
Protect summer berries by covering with netting.
Strawberry runners can be planted into pots as the first step towards providing next year’s crop. Remove the leaves above the crown and clear away any old straw around the plants to assist with ventilation and deter pests.
Gooseberry plants can be pruned back; five leaves are enough to encourage shoots for next season.
If you have any old CD or DVD discs lying around the house, tie them to a tree or bush with string to make an effective bird scarer.
Stone fruit should be ripe and ready to harvest, so make sure you pick all the cherries, plums, apricots, peaches and nectarines you can.
Trim back the raspberries that have fruited, and tie any new green canes to supports in readiness for next year’s fruit.
Once blackcurrant bushes have fruited, prune back the stems.
Remember that a glut of blackberries, loganberries or raspberries will freeze well. Freeze on trays for several hours before bagging up for winter use.
When all this is done, what better way to enjoy the literal fruits of your labour than by relaxing on your rattan garden furniture?
