By Isle of Wight Observer
The hot and dry summer is continuing with no rainfall as yet, although there may be a little in the coming days, but I’ll believe it when I see it. It does, however, look as though the temperature is finally dropping to more comfortable levels.
The Island’s flower shows have been a huge success, with some fantastic exhibits enjoyed by judges and visitors alike. There are rarely two years the same, but these last two years have seen drought throughout the summer; this year was just that much hotter. This had an effect at the shows with entries slightly down on previous years.
Keep harvesting your vegetables as this will encourage more to grow. Runner beans, French beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes need picking every couple of days and keep watering them, especially in this dry weather.
As I’m sure you are all aware, we are in the middle of a hosepipe ban, so please use water sparingly. I’d rather go without a shower in order to water my precious plants!
If you stopped your dahlias back in early July, you’ll be seeing buds beginning to show some colour around now. Water at least twice a week and give them a weekly feed of high potash, such as tomato food. This will strengthen the stems and make them ideal for cutting. It also helps put energy back into the tubers ready for next year.
Dahlias need cutting regularly to encourage the next flush of blooms.
I would normally be encouraging you to take cuttings from perennials, such as penstemons and geraniums; however, this year I would suggest holding on until we get some significant rainfall which will initiate some new, fresh, young growth.
Now that it is getting a bit more comfortable to be working out in the garden, it’s time to start things like hedge cutting. There’s nothing quite like a neatly clipped hedge, which makes ideal nesting sites for our garden birds.
Let’s all get out in the garden this weekend, have a rain dance, and pray for some precipitation!