Jobs to do in the Garden in August

Luckily somebody died a year ago and the relatives gave us their old washing machine. For 340 days it sat in the shed, and now we have dragged it in. There is nothing like a deadly bug in the air to get things done in a hurry.

Tip.  When you give a home to an old washing machine.  Never panic because there is ‘no hose’.  Open the door and look inside, before you buy a new hose online.

Halfway through a pandemic and it is still an ice-breaker. In the village shop, somebody remarked that the church bells are ringing for the first time in 18 months. I said ‘I hope they have masks on.’ and then we enjoyed a short talk from till operator who said she ‘had predicted everything that has happened so far.’ and that ‘there will be another lockdown in September.’ 

Her nose came out over her half slung mask as she went on to say ‘everybody must wear masks forever now.’  We went back to ‘what’s it like ringing bells with a mask on?’ decided we could give each other covid by hanging around in shops, and left. We all felt that we had sorted something out.

So much Covid. Either you have it. or you are waiting to get it, or you can talk about being ‘really ill’ in winter 2019. ‘Iswearialreadyhadit’ is a new word.  

I am staying in, and glad I have a garden to play in.

Things to be done in August

Make a Maze

No Mow May carried on for three months and the high grass is perfect for this. I forced the lawnmower to carve an intricate pattern of pathways.

Tip. Never take a small lawnmower through deep grass. It blocks up and hits hidden tent pegs and bricks. The gentle whir noise turns into a groaning, chugging sick sound and it will never be the same again.

The chickens used the maze properly.  I waited excitedly for the children who sometimes live here to turn up and create merry mayhem chasing each other wildly around and getting lost. 

They trotted around politely for a few minutes but it was more fun jumping on the long bits.

Think about Thugs

Thugs are the wild things that leap into life in July showers, and sprawl in all directions. They are double-edged swords because wildlife thrives here but humans like me get OCD about edges.

Buddleia is the biggest thug. 

There it is again. Working hard on bringing the wall down. Zoom in and you will see the plastic bag. This marks the spot where it was chopped back and poisoned, once and for all, in September 2020. Thugs don’t feel poison. 

It is a jungle out there. I leave it alone and remember that old quote ‘Do something creative every day.’

Loads of people say this. Dieter F. Uchtdorf went on about ‘The desire to create, one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.’

Kurt Vonnegut nagged ‘To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.’

Maya Angelou explains that it is quite safe. ‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.’

Ideal. I moved on to creative hobbies. Perfect for the garden in August.

Wildlife Photography

Look for special things that are interesting.

A freshly prepared beetle. Some spider is planning to take this home for dinner.

A spider’s home. This is where he has beetles for dinner.

Somebody always shouts ‘Oh look a dragonfly’ when you see one of these. Only good wildlife photographers get near enough to take photos.

Young sweetcorn pretending to be a Moomin character

A leek that went to flower. Far more beautiful than Leek and potato soup. It is never possible to remember to pick and eat things that were planted months ago. So now the bees get the benefit instead.

Courgette Cookery

Too many courgette plants did too well this year. This one is waiting to be planted out but is busy anyway, making more courgettes and looking beautiful.

You can try to give them away. That means remembering to see people and having a bag of courgettes at the same time. Not easy. Or, make this delicious salad.

Courgette Salad

Just simple. Griddled slices in lemon juice, olive oil, mint, chilli and garlic.  Watch out for leaving the courgettes in the griddle for too long.

If you do, you get a charcoal salad, but you have to eat it because you grew them.

When you have done your creative jobs for the day there are still things to deal with in the garden. Especially the long grass.

When you can’t see a chair it is time to trim the grass properly. If your lawnmower is gasping and vomiting you will need a scythe. I am out of scythes at the moment but I found some scissors.

Nobody tells you in May when you gaily leave nature to take its course.  That three months later you will be on your knees going around an entire lawn with scissors.

The owners of this garden know what they are doing. Nice neat plastic grass. But the algae in the pool looks healthy. They’re going to be in trouble with that soon. Nature is unstoppable.