Tomatoes
To conserve the energy of tomato plants, growing outside is best. If they are single stemmed cordons. once they have developed three or four trusses of flowers/fruits, snip off the tops of the plant. Make a cut about two leaves above the uppermost truss. This will allow further flowers to form in late August or early September.
Bush style tomatoes can be left alone. In mid to late August remove the flowers at the shoot tips so the fruits that have already formed can fully develop.
Deadheading, cutting back, pruning
Hanging Baskets still need daily attention to get the best out of them, deadheading, watering and feeding will help them last through until autumn.
Cut back the foliage and stems of herbaceous plants that have already died back such as Dicentra.
Deadhead plants such as Dahlia, roses and Penstemon and bedding to prolong the display colour well into early autumn.
Leave the flowerheads on ornamental grasses, these will give winter interest in the garden. The same can be said for alliums, after the seed heads have dropped, they still look interesting and attractive well into autumn.
Hardy geraniums can be cut back a little to remove tired leaves and encourage a new flush of growth.
Prune Wisteria
Wisteria needs regular pruning to keep the growth and size under control, but it will also improve the flowering display. For Summer Pruning in July or August, cut back the whippy green shoots of the current year’s growth to five or six leaves after flowering.
This controls the size of the wisteria and encourages it to form flower buds rather than green growth.
General maintenance
Feed containers with a liquid tomato food each week to encourage them to bloom into the early autumn.
Alpines that have developed bare patches of die-back, or have become weedy, can be tidied up by in-filling the patches with gritty compost. This will encourage new growth as well as improving their appearance.
Planning ahead
Buy or order spring-flowering bulbs. This will not mean they can all be planted immediately:
Autumn
- Plant spring-flowering bulbs including daffodils, hyacinths, lilies in the Autumn ideally by the end of September
- Plant tulips in November and even December as long as the ground is not waterlogged
- Plant hardy summer-flowering bulbs, such as lilies, alliums and crocosmia, in September and October
Spring
- Plant tender summer-flowering bulbs, including gladioli, in early spring
Summer
- Plant autumn-flowering bulbs, such as nerines, by late summer
Seeds for planting in Autumn
Collect and store seed of hardy annuals and perennials for sowing later in the autumn. Good plants to try to include are Aquilegia, Calendula, Nigella, Papaver, and hardy Geranium.