August Gardening Tasks

August is the month when most people start to pay attention to the state of dehydration of the plants in their garden, and of course, the lawn. The particularly hot summer we had to begin with means that most people will find they have at least one or two plants in need of some TLC right now, with pictures of the browning grass in London’s Royal Parks in the newspapers recently.

The Guardian’s expert gardener Dan Pearson gives some excellent tips for watering the lawn at this time. I agree with Dan that watering the lawn simply wastes water; the grass can’t repair itself when its dried but will spring back once it receives a decent spell of rain. Watering vegetables and plants is a different kettle of fish though. I use water collected in a water butt and like Dan, pay particular attention to my vegetables. I do agree with his advice to keep my tomatoes well watered and I’m careful not to over-water – regular, measured feeding seems to work best.

Another way to use water in the garden without adding to your carbon footprint is using a Water Two Grey Water Recycling Valve. This is a valve for the bathroom pipes that recycles bath and shower water for use in the garden or washing the car or the patio, etc. So I’ve got plenty of water for my watering can without using tap water, which would have to be mechanically pumped to my house, needlessly using up more energy. I’m also following Dan’s advice to keep my organic spinach and parsley perky, and using plenty of saucers of grey water underneath the pot plants. All in all, the garden’s looking good despite the heat.

I’m hoping that more people are prompted by the hotter weather to start using grey water this year. Who knows, if enough people join in it could be a way to end the hosepipe bans that many gardeners seem to dread!