Garden tips for August: a remote watering system and weed strimming
Plus key potager jobs such as planting and harvesting the last summer vegetables
Remote watering control
Heading away on holiday this summer, or perhaps back to the UK to see family? If your French neighbours are away or you do not have anybody nearby to water your garden while you’re away, a programmable watering system is a great solution.
This Gardena Bluetooth controller takes watering to the next level with professional-grade automation for use with a smartphone or tablet. Designed to fit various valve diameters, it is easy to set up via the Gardena Bluetooth app’s programming wizard. Choose from three independent programmes and benefit from the ability to centrally adjust watering duration. If rain is predicted, you can even adjust the sessions to avoid over-watering. You can also connect Gardena’s Soil Moisture Sensor, which is sold separately.
Price, €77.99.
Strimmer for weeds
Your summer lawn and borders need regular weeding, and if you want to avoid chemical weed control (with its attendant risks, including surface and groundwater pollution, threats to wildlife, damage to garden plants and risks to human health), then there’s no substitute for manual removal. However, the RHS advises that if you have fast-growing weeds in larger areas or meadows that are difficult to remove by hand, such as “those with a deep tap root or creeping rhizomes”, then a strimmer is the answer.
“Repeatedly removing any top growth during the growing season allows you to weaken the weed,” it says.
In the potager
Jobs for growers in August include planting out broccoli, carrots, spinach, autumn turnips and cauliflower. As for la récolte (harvest), it’s time to pick those aubergines, courgettes, peppers and tomatoes.
