Now is the time to summer prune your wisteria, which will have put on lots of wispy tendrils. Unless they are pruned twice a year, it will grow very large and soon outgrow its allotted space. Cut the wispy growth back to five or six buds from the main stem.
Once your lavender bushes have finished flowering they can be given a good hair cut to get them back into shape. This can be done by reducing the section of green growth that exists between the wood and the bottom of the flower stem. French lavender needs to be treated slightly differently, they just need to be dead headed throughout the summer.
Keep on dead heading to prolong the flower display in your garden, and don’t forget your hanging baskets as well. Climbing and rambling roses that do not repeat flower can be pruned once the flowers are over.
Raise ripening pumpkins and squashes off the soil to prevent rotting. Plant new strawberries now, either as bought plants or detached runners. Cut down fruited canes of summer raspberries after they have fruited.
Pinch out the tips of your runner beans once they have reached the top of their support. This encourages side-shooting and more beans at a manageable height. Lift and dry onions and shallots once their foliage has bent over and turned yellow. Keep picking runner and French beans to prevent them from setting seed.
Lawn growth is slowing down now so raise the cutting height of your lawn mower to help your grass. Don’t feed your lawn with a high nitrogen fertiliser now as it will encourage lush growth that can be damaged by autumn weather.
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