by Janis on 29th August 2025 / 0 comments
Time to prune lavender
Once again, it’s been a reasonably dry month in the southeast of England, and as we currently have a hosepipe ban, we’re unable to give our flower beds a good watering. The lawn is looking a little sad, too.
Now that we’ve become more attentive to our cottage garden bed, we’ve noticed that during the month of August, there is always a lack of colour. We do have roses and dahlias, but in comparison to our patio pots, it certainly could be more vibrant.
However, a new plant that we purchased in spring was a Verbena Bonariensis, and it hasn’t stopped flowering since May; it really is a winner. So, guess what, we’re going to purchase some more next spring.
Pinterest?
Why not Pin it for later?
What we’ve been up to in August
In the garden and on the websiteWe’ve been tackling the weeding in our Cottage Garden bed and in other areas, although we haven’t quite caught up yet. We’ve also been utilising our hedge trimmer to tend to various shrubs in the garden, especially our bay tree by the patio.
Verbena and a butterfly
Gary has managed to tackle some of the Cotoneaster and the back section of our garden, but unfortunately, there is a lot more to do. I think we’re going to have to invest in a new quieter shredder.
I’ve tackled some of the driveway and scraped away more weeds, although the task isn’t quite finished yet. Our drive is quite big and in the sun most of the day, so I think I’m going to have to wait until it is slightly overcast before I get the scraper out again.
Hungarian Hot Wax chilli
Our chillies are still doing well. They’re ripening nicely. We’ve used some in a curry, and they were fantastic. It looks like we’re going to have a bumper crop of Scotch Bonnet chillies.
I’ve taken some softwood cuttings this month, from one of our fuchsias and also from our fragrant lavender. We currently have six lavender plants next to our lawn, and they are becoming unruly and woody. So, I’ve taken 12 cuttings and am keeping my fingers crossed that they germinate. If they do, I will replace the old ones. I believe germination can take six to eight weeks.
Softwood cuttings
Now that our tomato plants are flourishing, we’ve started eating and cooking some of the fruit from our various plants. As usual, we can always rely on the Gardener’s Delight variety to come up trumps; they are delicious.
I’ve also pruned our six lavender plants in preparation for next season. This is ideally done towards the end of August or early September.
Achievements for August
Let’s keep ticking those boxesWe've managed to tick a few jobs off the list for August; however, we would have liked to have achieved more. Here are a few of our August tasks.
Crocosmia & Lavender
So, let’s see what we’ve managed to tick off for August.
Pruned the Bay tree.
Scraped and weeded the driveway.
Taken Lavender soft cuttings.
Chopped down some of the Cotoneaster.
Taken Fuchsia soft cuttings.
Pruned the lavender, ready for next season.
Cut down some of the overhanging ivy.
Keep the garden waste bin as full as possible.
Lessons learnt & mistakes made
You live and learnWe need to tackle the rear part of the garden as it has now become quite overgrown and is now an onerous task, but hey-ho, it needs to be done.
Our plans for the coming month
What’s on your to-do list?Weed the two front garden beds and prune the roses.
Continue to redevelop the raised bed area.
Move the Money Trees before the cooler weather begins.
Plant our Lupins and Foxgloves as they have grown stronger.
Weed the last of the driveway using a scraper.
Continue clearing weeds and unwanted planting in the Cottage Garden section.
Continue pruning larger shrubs
Purchase a new shredder.
Please let us know what you have planned for your garden this month; we’d love to hear about it.
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