Mid-Summer Holidays and Long Evenings –  With Christmas and holidays around the corner, the garden will be much lived in.  It is a place to be enjoyed and appreciated, and should be given special attention to keep it looking good.

Summer Scents:  It’s wonderful to walk in a garden on a warm evening and smell the scents of summer.  Ginger is heady, but it can take over and outgrow its welcome.  Mentha gives off a delicious peppermint scent when walked on, and there are other mints to think about, such as eau-de-Cologne mint and spearmint.  Buddleja, citrus, alyssum, nicotiana, liliums, gardenias and roses are just some of the other plants which bring delicious summer scents, and osmanthus is a shrub which gives off a strong perfume for most of the year.

So many summer- and autumn-flowering annuals can still be planted.  Some seed, such as marigolds, alyssum and nasturtium can be sown in situ, while seedlings of others can be planted.  During the very hot weather they will need protection from the sun and regular deep watering.  In summer rainfall gardens, storms may batter young plants.

Sow or plant:  ageratum, alyssum, amaranthus, balsam, begonia, candytuft, cornflower, delphinium, gomphrena, helichrysum, lobelia, nasturtium, nicotiana, petunia, porticula.

For blooming in the early winter garden, sow seeds of stocks, antirrhinum, iceland poppies, pansies and delphiniums, and keep in a cool sheltered place.

Sow vegetables such as:  beans (bush and runner), beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce, squash and tomatoes.