This is often one of the hottest months of the year and a great time to sit out and enjoy your garden. Keep plants looking good by regularly dead-heading, and you’ll enjoy a longer display of blooms. Make sure you keep new plants well watered, using grey water (clean waste water) where possible, and hoe off weeds, which thrive in the sunshine.
- Pick courgettes before they become marrows
- Clear algae, blanket weeds and debris from ponds, and keep them topped up
- Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed, especially if not given a spring feed
- Harvest apricots, peaches and nectarines
- Water tubs and new plants if dry, but be water-wise – check you aren’t drowning the roots and that the soil has a good water-retention mix
- Keep watch for pests such as lily beetles, snails, aphids and vine weevils, and remove before they do too much harm
- Water fruit trees and bushes, then lay a thick mulch of garden compost around their base to hold in moisture
- Take large-leaved houseplants into the garden and hose them down to clean off accumulated dust