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Flower Garden

• Summer prune wisteria, shortening all long wispy sideshoots back to about 20cm
• Water hydrangea bushes with a hydrangea colourant for true blue colour next summer
• Take clematis cuttings or layer new shoots by pegging them down into the soil to root
• Layer long sideshoots of border carnations into soil prepared with potting compost. Make a slit in each stem, peg down to hold firm, and wait to root
• Water plants, such as roses, climbers and shrubs growing against dry sunny walls
• Plant bulbs of the Madonna lily in a sunny spot
• Prune ornamental cherries while the weather is hot and dry to reduce the risk of silver leaf disease
• Plant colchicums, nerines, sternbergia and autumn crocuses
• Deadhead geraniums and other bedding plants so they don't waste energy setting seed, and to keep plants looking tidy
• Water hanging baskets and pots of summer-flowering bedding plants. Never let compost completely dry out or it can be very difficult to re-wet

Fruit and Veg

• Shorten sideshoots growing from the framework of espalier, fan and cordon-trained fruit trees back to about five leaves from their base
• Pick fresh herbs for drying
• Pick gooseberries, currants, strawberries and other fruits as they ripen
• Support heavily laden branches on plums, apples and pears with wooden props
• Water fruit to increase yields then cover the soil with a mulch, such as grass cuttings, to conserve the moisture
• Water strawberry runners, cutting them from the parent plant when well rooted
• Sow dwarf French beans for a late crop
• Prune out fruited canes of raspberries
• Spray gooseberries against sawfly attack and to prevent powdery mildew
• Sow vegetables such as endive, lettuces and salad leaves, rocket, beetroot, radishes, spring cabbages, kohl rabi, Swiss chard, winter spinach, Oriental greens, chicory

Greenhouse

• Train cucumbers and prune back sideshoots
• Pick off flowers on coleus to maintain their colourful leaves
• Water tomatoes regularly to prevent fruits from splitting
• Take cuttings from fuchsias, coleus, pelargoniums, marguerites and other tender perennials
• Hang up yellow sticky traps to monitor and control whitefly and other flying pests
• Feed begonias and other plants in pots
• Treat red spider mite with a biological control
• Tie ripening melons to sturdy supports
• Pot on rooted cuttings to keep plants growing strongly
• Pinch out sideshoots on tomatoes

Around the Garden

• Trim hedges to keep them neat, then shred and compost the clippings
• Top up compost or bark mulches around heathers
• Hoe and hand weed borders
• Water hanging baskets and patio containers regularly
• Place orders for bulbs to plant this autumn
• Deadhead flowers and removev old leaves from water lilies as they pass their best
• Apply liquid feed to dahlias and chrysanthemums, to boost growth

Andrew