Maybe I am a bit weird, but I am enjoying aspects of this hosepipe ban. Every night I go out with my watering can and do the rounds often talking to neighbours as I go about my important business. I am making new connections, new contacts and new friends.
Neighbours helping out when I am away and me doing likewise all adds to the good vibe and my long held conviction that land and community are in our DNA. It really wasn’t that long ago that our dependency on the seasons and working together was so critical to our survival. Who could deny that a shared task and a job well done creates the well being factor that is so needed in an age where isolation and mental health issues are so frequently talked about?
I confess that I am not always that keen to share that the water in my can has just come from last night’s bath but at least I know it is going to good use.
There is plenty to do this month other than watering:
• Dead head herbaceous plants, not forgetting dahlias and roses: these will all usually give you repeat flowering later in the year.
• Wisteria will need their summer prune. This gives a chance for light and air to ripen sturdier growth and produce better flowers. The technique is to cut back the whippier new tendrils to about 5 x buds, to just above the bud. Don’t forget that Wisterias need another chop in late winter.
• Avoid using tap water if you can when everyone in the neighbourhood is having a shower or washing up: they won’t thank you when the water pressure drops!
• Leave your grass trimmings on the lawn (in areas where you are lucky enough to have your lawn needing to be mown!): it will help retain moisture as they break down.
• Cut back rambling roses when they have finished flowering. Cut back a third of the oldest stems to the base then shorten the side stems by two thirds.
• Hedges can be given a final trim before their growth begins to slow down in September.
• Worms will find it hard to flourish in dry summer months. Although this is a wet one, piles of grass cuttings under shrubs or hedges will still bring them into your garden where they can do the good work of helping keep the soil healthy.
• Trim conifer hedges if you have not done so already: avoid cutting into the brown wood as on most species, it will not regrow. Trim lavenders too but avoid cutting into the old growth.
• Wildflower areas should be cut down at the end of the month. It is important to rake up the cut material to keep reducing the nitrogen level of the soil: this encourages the production of flowers. By leaving the cut material a day or two, seeds can drop and increase the density of flowering material for the following year.
An unexpected bonus to sharing the tasks is the appearance of some rather nice wine in the evenings. Conversations, links, interests and opinions are all shared. It hardly feels like a chore anymore!