Make the most of your time in the garden this month

 
If you’re off on holiday soon or want to make the most of long days in the garden, use your time wisely and read a good gardening book or two.
 
You can read up on your favourite plants, plan next year’s garden, a new area in the garden or a new feature – or just brush up on your gardening techniques. Take a quick stroll around our book department for some inspirational reading.

Now’s the time to take semi-ripe cuttings from some of your favourite shrubs like hebes, rosemary, weigela, ceanothus and hydrangeas.

Take the cuttings from the current year’s growth just below a leaf, remove the leaves from the lower half of the cutting and dip the end in rooting hormone. Then insert the cuttings in pots of cuttings compost.

Cover the pots with a polythene bag or put them in a propagator and place somewhere warm and sheltered but out of strong, direct sunlight. They should be ready to pot on in a few weeks.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you shade your greenhouse to prevent plants inside getting scorched. Use a shading wash or hang up fleece or shade netting. Keep vents open during warm weather; installing automatic vent openers will do the work for you.

Water plants daily – or as and when they need it – and feed every seven to 10 days or so to ensure healthy growth and plenty of flowers and fruit.

To improve humidity, damp down paths daily with a few gallons of water