It's time to: August

Treat 

Tall bearded iris to a dose of rose food, which performs the same great service to iris as it does to roses.

 



Tall bearded iris. Photo - SK Design/Shutterstock. 

 

Borer alert

While trees are bare check them for sawdust-like ‘frass’ surrounding holes in the trunk. This marks borer action. Squash the grubs inside the hole with a length of wire, then inject some insecticide into the hole.

Prevent 

Petal blight turning azaleas to mush by spraying with a fungicide such as Eco Fungicide from OCP or Zaleton from Yates.

Check 

For swellings on the stems of lemons. These signal the presence of gall wasp. Cut off affected stems. Do this before the end of August to prevent a new generation of this pest.

Cuttings

Take frangipani cuttings. Lean them against the wall of the house, or the fence, to dry off before planting.

Plant 

a grape vine or fruit trees such as apple, pear, fig, peach, nectarine, apricot and plum. All are available now, bare-rooted, and ready for planting.

Feed

Repay camellias for the great show with a feed of specialised camellia food.

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