Garden Work

Staking plants is better done sooner rather than later

Staking plants is better done sooner rather than later. Just one windy day can reduce the garden to a state where it looks as if a herd of cows has been napping in it. Use a framework of bamboos with a cat's cradle of soft twine or any of the clever devices on sale in garden centres now. If you are lucky enough to have hazel or willow sticks, these are much more discreet for less heavy plants: shove them into the ground at strategic points or place three or four in a circle around the plant you want to support and weave the tops together over it, like a twiggy igloo. Fresh hazel and willow may send out roots, so be sure to remove them in autumn.

In the vegetable garden, pull some soil up around the stems and foliage of potatoes to encourage good tuber formation.

If you propagated pelargoniums or fuchsias earlier in the year, pinch out their tips to encourage bushiness. And annuals, sown earlier, should be thinned now so that a few healthy and husky plants develop, rather than a load of stragglers.