The warm summer is continuing with very little in the way of rainfall, which is so different to this time last year.

Other than a deluge of rain for an hour or so a fortnight ago, it’s remained dry. The long range forecast looks to be staying dry and warm for a while yet.

The Island’s flower shows are well underway and have been a huge success, with some fantastic exhibits enjoyed by judges and visitors alike. As we all know there never seems to be two years the same with our Great British weather and with it being so warm and dry some things have done better than others.

Generally, anything which produces their offerings above ground has done well, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, salad crops and soft fruit, whereas, root crops have struggled a little, such as potatoes, carrots and beetroot. On a wet year, such as last year, the root crops did so much better.

It’s coming up to the time to consider taking some softwood cuttings from some of your perennial plants such as penstemons, geraniums and osteospermums.

Begin by cutting back any flowering stems that have finished blooming. This will encourage the side shoots to put on some lovely fresh growth. Once they are a few inches long they can be trimmed off with a sharp knife and put in a pot with free draining compost.

Give them a good drink then place in a sheltered spot such as an open cold frame, water occasionally and within a few weeks they’ll have rooted.

You will see when they have rooted as they’ll begin to put on some fresh growth and if you give them a gentle tug they will stay in the pot. Once rooted you can pot them up individually ready for planting out next spring.

Keep harvesting your vegetables as this will encourage more to grow. Runner and French beans need picking every couple of days and keep watering them, especially in this dry weather.

Dahlias need cutting regularly to encourage the next flush of blooms and they are hungry, thirsty plants so give them a weekly high potash feed such as tomato food.

Remember we have a hosepipe ban – so use your watering can to keep everything looking good.