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Gardening Calendar

Browse our monthly calendar for advice on what to plant, prune, and feed each month. 

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Gardening calendar August 2021

Planting

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Flowers & Ornaments

  • Summer flowering bulbs to plant this month include hippeastrums, gladioli, as well as Oriental and Asiatic liliums. Also dahlia tubers can be planted now for a summer explosion of flower.
  • Divide perennials such as cannas, daylilies, agapanthus and red-hot pokers.
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Trees & Shrubs

  • There is still time to plant out deciduous as well as ornamental trees before the new season's shoots begin to swell. Prepare soil using Baileys Soil Matters Clay & Compost. 
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Vegetables & Herbs

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Natives

  • Winter is the perfect time to plant natives in our Mediterranean climate because the cool, mild conditions and regular rains give the perfect chance to get a good start before the long, hot, dry summer arrives. If growing in pots, use a quality mix, formulated for phosphorus sensitive plants, such as  Baileys Native Premium Potting Mix.
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Fruits

  • Choose berry plants for winter colour such as nandina, cotoneaster, pyracantha, Rosa rugosa, cumquat, holly, cape lilac and duranta (also known as golden dew drop)
  • Deciduous fruit and nut trees and vines are now available at nurseries and weather conditions make this the ideal time to plant them in your garden. Try nectarine, peach, plum, cherries or almond trees.

Suggested Products

SOIL MATTERS® CLAY & COMPOST

SOIL MATTERS® CLAY & COMPOST

 PREMIUM POTTING MIX

PREMIUM POTTING MIX

 SOIL IMPROVER PLUS

SOIL IMPROVER PLUS

 VEG & HERB PREMIUM PLANTING MIX

VEG & HERB PREMIUM PLANTING MIX

Feeding

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Trees & Shrubs

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Flowers & Ornaments

  • Spring flowering bulbs will be bursting into bloom. Don't forget to feed these plants at the flowering stage to help them build starch reserves for next year's flower development.
  • Hydrangeas can be colour fed now. For more intense pink colours spread lime around the base of the plant. Blues can be made stronger with a blueing tonic.
  • Once Camellias have finished flowering they are set to make their one giant growth spurt for the year. Feed with Baileys Soil Matters Garden so you can fuel this growing activity

Suggested Products

BLOOD & BONE MIX

BLOOD & BONE MIX

 SOIL MATTERS® GARDEN

SOIL MATTERS® GARDEN

Pruning and Maintenance

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Flowers & Ornaments

  • Prune poinsettia hard (back to leafless trunks) to develop a compact bushy shape and for improved flowering next year.
  • Lightly trim back summer and autumn flowering evergreen shrubs such as hibiscus, many grevilleas, oleander, gardenia, many ornamental grasses, geranium, canna, salvia, plumbago, cistus rock rose, Chinese lantern or abutilon and tibouchina.
  • To keep indoor cyclamen happy and cool put them out when you go to bed onto a cold patio.
  • Get those roses pruned as soon as possible if you didn't get them done in July. A thorough dowsing with lime sulphur spray once you have finished will sort out many fungal problems before they can get started. The same applies to grape vines, a spray on bare stems cleans out fungal spores even in the crack of bark.
  • Fuchias just love the cooler months and get growing quickly. Make them bushier by pinching out the soft growth tips between your thumb and forefinger. This causes two shoots to replace the original one and each has the potential to bloom so you improve the flower production too. This is also a good time to take cuttings of fuchsias to increase your collection.
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Edibles 

  • Cut back the fern like fronds of asparagus to the ground so that new edible shoots will pop above the ground ready for harvest.
  • Now that grape vines have dropped their foliage it's time to do the annual pruning. It's good practise to apply a spray of lime sulphur after pruning to kill off fungi such as mildew.
  • Root-prune non-productive fig and plum trees to shock them into bearing. This consists of plunging a sharp spade through the roots around a metre out from the main trunk. Do this in a hit and miss fashion so that you only cut half the roots in the circle.