August. Don't worry - Bee Happy !

Am I becoming the 'Mr Bean' of the allotments?

In the past few weeks I have had more pleasure out of my Bee 'meadow' ( a slight exaggeration of size) than, well, just about most other things.

Sad, but true. And all I did was buy a £3.95 pack of 'Bee-friendly wildflower mix' from my local 'Homehardware' store and three months later I am purring with delight at the results. Not only do I have a spectacularly colourful patch in my allotment but I have all the pleasure of watching nature do her bit in style. I might just also be responsible for saving the entire global food chain too of course. 

Blues, reds, yellows, different shades and textures - all because I knew I didn't have time to dig over that corner of my allotment this year and wanted an easy solution. There were a number of months from sowing in April where there was nothing showing so if you try it you need to be patient. Clearing the ground of aggressive weeds such as ground elder, bindweed and horsetail will help a great deal. Don't add fertiliser or compost as wildflowers flourish of 'poor' soil.

So when not gazing smugly on my 'meadow' there are plenty of other jobs to do...

Tasks for August include;

• Cut your conifers hedges now as you risk 'die-back' if you leave it later in the year. Conifers can be very unforgiving of bad haircuts so do not overdo it or you will permanently have a dark bald patch.
• Trim your lavender plants but again - be careful not to overdo it. Only take off 1" (2.5cm) of growth when you dead-head them as anything more can kill the plant - especially the more tender varieties such as French lavender.
• Ponds can become choked with oxygenating plants in warmer weather. Keep this in check by raking out excessive growth and look into organic ways of maintaining the right 'balance' of chemistry in your pond. Adding barley straw, more plants and better cleaning methods are all options.
• Iris will divide and take well now and are best broken into 4" (10cm) lengths.
• Our old friends the slugs and snails will still be doing their thing oblivious to the distress caused to the sensitive community of high minded gardeners. I was reminded that half-grapefruit skins placed cut side down work well as do small receptacles of beer buried at soil level. 

If the last item isn't humane pest control I don't know what is. 

What a way to go - but I would probably miss my bees.