Tasks for August

Get water wise this summer for savings on your water bills and to beat the drought conditions which have afflicted many gardeners in recent months. These days it's hard to tell whether we'll be facing flooding or hosepipe bans: so it makes sense to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, saving rainwater when there's plenty of it [...]

August's plant of the month is the phlox, one of those plants no cottage garden border should be without. Quintessentially romantic, its fragrant clusters of pink, white or purple flowers release their perfume in the evenings: they're also a big favourite with bees and other pollinating insects making them ideal for the wildlife garden, too. Modern-day varieties are bred to [...]

Count your butterflies for this year's Big Butterfly Count, the initiative run by Butterfly Conservation which draws on ordinary gardeners to help monitor populations of this much-loved but endangered garden regular. All you have to do is find a quiet spot somewhere in your garden any time between now and the end of August, sit down for 15 minutes and [...]

The garden is nothing if not colourful this month, what with the day-glo colours of late summer dazzling beneath brilliantly-coloured butterflies. Keep it looking gorgeous with our list of jobs to be getting on with this month: General tasks: Keep up with the harvest, whether it's fruit, vegetables or cutting flowers, as regular picking keeps the produce coming Clear away [...]