Still hot, August weather is often similar to that of July. However days are getting noticeably shorter. By the end of the month there's often a distinctly autumnal feeling in the air. As August is the month when most people go away, try to arrange for a neighbour of friend to water your containers and greenhouse plants. It's a good idea to move containers out of full sun while you're away. Why not use your holiday to visit one or two gardens - you might get some good ideas for your own plot.

Essential Jobs

Take cuttings of shrubby herbs and tender perennials

Water all containers every day and feed regularly

Trim hedges

Treat vine weevil with biological control

Pinch out tomato sideshoots

Prune raspberries and gooseberries

Mow the lawn before going on holiday

Last Chance To…Take cuttings of rock plants and shrubs

Flower Garden
Take cuttings of tender perennial, such as verbenas, argyranthemums, fuchsias, salvias and pelargoniums. Dip the cuttings into a hormone rooting compound before inserting them into small pots of half and half peat and perlite or peat and silver sand. Water in well and keep the cuttings in a cold frame or even on warm windowsill out of direct sunlight. They should root within eight weeks and can then be potted up in Westland Multi-Purpose compost and over-wintered in a heated greenhouse or on a bedroom windowsill.

Trim lavender bushes once the flowers are past their best. If you like to attract wildlife to your garden you may prefer to leave the seedheads as goldcrest adore the seeds and may visit in early autumn.

If you have camellias, azaleas or rhododendrons water them well in dry weather otherwise the flower buds for next year may not develop properly. To boost growth feed them with Westland Liquid Ericaceous Feed. If you have lime in your soil you may find that the foliage of these particular plants is turning yellow. The lime in the soil stops the plants taking up trace elements, particularly iron. You can alleviate the condition by applying Westland sulphate of iron. In severe cases it is probably better to grow lime-hating plants in containers using one of the Westland Ericaceous composts.

Late-flowering bulbs such as nerines, agapanthus, schistylis and sternbergia will appreciate watering at this time of year. The reason is that all these plants come from parts of the world with summer rains. If they go dry they may not flower well

This is the month to plant the lovely, but temperamental madonna lily. It prefers limy soil and should be planted not more than 5 cm (2 inches) deep.

Roses
Stop feeding roses now. Feeding will encourage soft growth that won't have a chance to ripen before the winter. It will then be prone to diseases.
Rambler roses that have finished flowering can be pruned now. Cut the long old stems that flowered this year, but leave non-flowering shoots as these should bloom next year.

Lawn
Hopefully, all that hard work you did in the spring will have paid off, and your lawn will be looking green and velvety. If not, there's still time to use any of the wide range of Westland weedkillers, mosskillers and feeds. You should continue to feeds your lawn, and try to mow it twice a week if you can, though once a week will be OK. Don't add the clippings to the compost heap for the first few weeks after applying weedkillers.

In the Greenhouse
Vine weevil has become a common pest in greenhouses and containers in recent years. The adult weevil is dull dark grey in colour, slightly mottled. It comes out at night and chomps away at the margins of leaves. But it is the larvae that cause the real damage by burrowing down into the compost and devouring the roots of plants. By the time the gardener spots that the plant is not flourishing it may well be too late. If you see wilting leaves remove the plant from its pot and have a look. The grubs are about 1 cm (1/2 inch) long, curved and creamy white in colour with brown heads. They should be destroyed on sight. Biological control by nematodes is now available and should be used this month. Follow the instructions carefully.

Continue to mist plants and check shading. Continue to feed tomato plants each weeks with Westland Liquid Tomato Feed.

Containers
Before you go on holiday try and arrange for a friend or neighbour to come round and water your containers. If they can't come every day, take steps to cut down on watering requirements by moving all containers and hanging baskets out of the sun as far as possible. Clay pots can be stood on trays filled with wet gravel. If you have a very elaborate summer display with window-boxes and hanging baskets, you should consider installing an automatic watering system controlled by a timer.

Vegetable Garden
Pick courgettes regularly while they are small. Pinch out the tips of the climbing shoots of runner beans once they reach the tip of their supports. Sow lettuce, winter spinach, spring cabbage and Chinese cabbage out of doors

Herb Garden
Continue to take cuttings of woody herbs including hyssop, lavender, rosemary, curry plant, rue and sage. Dip the cuttings into hormone rooting compound before inserting them into small pots of equal parts peat and silver sand or peat and perlite.

It's a good time of year to divide congested clumps of chives. Dig them up and divide in small clumps of about five or six bulbs. Replant with a handful of your favourite Westland planting mixture.

Fruit Garden
Plant rooted strawberry runners now to ensure a good crop next year. If you leave this much later the crop will be severely reduced. Continue to prune raspberries and tie in new shoots. Prune gooseberries, shortening the main stems and side shoots to five leaves.

Water Features
It's OK to cut off water lily leaves if they are hiding the flowers. Continue to thin heavy growths of oxygenating plants from ponds. Ask a neighbour to feed any fish while you're on holiday. Ornamental fish need to feed heavily in late summer and autumn to help them get through the winter

Alpines
There's still time to take cuttings of alpines.