August is that time of year when the garden is looking a little unruly after the wonderful display it put on in June and July but you will be surprised by how much tidier it will look after what is effectively a short, back and sides.

All plants, shrubs and trees respond well to a good pruning, it stimulates fresh and vigorous new growth.  However, you shouldn’t just prune everything in the garden willy nilly.  Perennial plants are fairly easy, as are roses but flowering shrubs are a little more tricky as are the one time flowering older varieties of rose.  Here is my quick guide on late Summer pruning.

Modern roses

Modern varieties of roses (those that repeat flower) can be pruned at any time of year, although the main pruning should occur early in the year when the first buds appear.  I water my roses continuously when they are in active growth (April-October) and I find that this results in vigorous growth and more flowers, so the occasional haircut keeps things in order.  This Summer there has been a decent amount of rainfall so you might find that by August you have a few stems that are a bit leggy and it really is a good idea to reduce these down the the height of the other stems.  It maintains a good shape and will promote flowers uniformly on the plant rather than just on the longer stems.  Always prune to just above a leaf joint as this is where the growth node is for the next flower.  Keep the cut tight to the leaf joint, cutting higher results in die-back which will turn brown and be dead wood which can allow fungal infections to develop.  This method I generally use with Bush roses but you can also use the same technique with climbing roses but don’t reduce the stems by much are long arching stems is what we are going for.  With climbing roses I usually only cut stems back by 1 or 2 leaf joints.  With Ramblers just cut off an inch or two below the finished flower heads.  If you are unsure you can send me a photo of the rose and I will give you my opinion.

Perennial Plants

I tend to just keep on top of dead-heading perennials unless they are really scruffy and the thing with perennials is that they all need pruning differently to promote late-Summer flowering.  Here are just a few to give you an idea, others you can look up on the Internet or you can ask me directly.

Phlox – simply cut just below the spent flowerhead and this will promote new flower development.  Do not cut them down to the base, that’s a Spring job.

Delphiniums – Cut then off at ground level and new, albeit smaller flower spikes will develop.

Lupins – after seed pods have started to develop cut back to a leaf joint below the seed pods and a new flower should develop from here.

Flowering Shrubs

The pruning of flowering shrubs all depends upon whether they flower on new wood or wood from the previous year. Forsythia is a prime example, it flowers on the previous years growth, if you must cut it then only prune a 3rd of stems otherwise you will have no flowers next spring.  In reality, the ideal time to prune forsythia is just after it has flowered, allowing time for new flower bearing growth to occur. Lavender should be cut back hard at this time of year to prevent it becoming woody, I use a special lavender pruning tool but you can also use a pair of secateurs, prune to just above the start of the green shoots,this will encourage bushy growth and an abundance of flowers next year. My best advice on flowering shrubs is to treat each type as unique and to check in gardening books or online first.

 

Pruning now will tidyup the garden and promote more flowers, thereby extending interest in the garden well into Autumn.  Now is also a good time to label plants that need moving in the autumn, I use blank white plant labels, the type that fixes around the stems which I write on with a permanent marker pen.

And now a few words from the wise, generally the women in my family…..(and my thoughts)

If the house is untidy just put away 30 things, by the time you are finished you will be amazed how much better it looks and it doesn’t take that long.  Personally I think this is a trick to make me do housework.

The garden will look 100% better if you cut the grass, in my opinion Mothers are wiley creatures and will try anything to encourage sons to do work.

It will only take 5 minuites, pfah I say after 2 hours.

Let’s clean out that cupboard together, this in my opinion means I work and you supervise, note to self, never trust sisters.

Happy Gardening and I would loveto see pictures of your gardens

Who said Gardening was Stress Free?

It has to be said that on the whole gardening for a living is a pretty laid-back existence especially when you compare it to the stress of the corporate world but it does have its moments.  Last year in the Black Forest was very hot and dry and these were the perfect conditions for a certain type of beatle that make their home under to bark of trees.  The result of this infestation is death for the tree and all around us in the forest we have heard the sound of busy forest workers removing the affected trees, removal of the trees reduces the spread of the beatle. This was quite a blow for the forest as we had already lost a good number of trees early in the year.  The snowfall this year was not as excessive as in some years but it was very heavy and wet. Yes I know that snow is made from water before anybody advises me of the fact but wet snow is much heavier than dry snow and this resulted in many trees breaking in half.  We also have an infection of Asian Box Tree caterpillars in our box hedging. All of this might make any lesser gardener hang up their gardening gloves and call it a day but we gardeners are made of tough stuff and are not so easily deterred.  It just makes us work harder so that we can overcome these minor setbacks. That’s life!

The Latest News from The Moosbach Garden

Well, it has to be said that there is quite a lot going on at the moment some are good and some are not so good but it’s all about balance, right?

So the goose has been sitting on her clutch of 10 eggs for 5 weeks but nothing has hatched, so something has probably gone wrong or the eggs were not fertile but I’ve decided to let her come to that conclusion herself and in her own good time.

Bramble, our resident cat has been very busy controlling the mouse population and has graciously allowed us to carry on living here.

The sheep, who are an English breed called Shropshire, are growing nicely and doing a good job grazing our fields.

The older chickens are not laying very much but I don’t have the heart to kill them so they continue to live in The Moosbach Garden retirement home for chickens, the young chickens that we bred this year are due to start laying by the end of this month and will start to earn their keep.

The exciting news is that we have a new addition to The Moosbach Garden family, a gorgeous Border Collie puppy called Luna.  She is only 8 weeks old and has only been here for 24 hours but has already succeeded in turning our world upside down.

 

And Finally….

We are proud to announce that The Moosbach Garden will now be open to the Public on Wednesday afternoons from 12:00-18:00 and on the first Sunday of every month (April-October). Visitors can view the garden, enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake and buy top quality plants from The Moosbach Garden.  On the 25th August we have an open day and you can pre-book our famous English Afternoon Tea, numbers are limited so we would recommend booking early.  To book your place please visit our website by clicking here.  Please note that you must pre-book for this event.

We can still be found at the Oberkirch outdoor market every Wednesday from 08:00-12:00 next to the coffee stand, please come and say “Hello” if you are in the area, we love meeting new people. As always, gardening questions are welcome, just don’t ask me about Brexit or Football!