THIS week sees the end of another academic year and the opportunity to reflect before starting again in September. It is an unfortunate feature of the Craven College calendar that gardening courses miss all of July and August and I only hope students don’t think that this is a time for putting their feet up. Hopefully I will find some time to spend in my garden over the summer and tackle some bigger projects. One job that seems to have been put off for more years than I care to remember is a boardwalk around the pond. My sons are more excited about restocking the pond with fish but I am wary about feeding the local herons again. The margins of the pond are kept damp by underground springs and so will be ideal for bog primulas, unfortunately weeds also grow rampantly in this environment and need eradicating first to avoid a maintenance nightmare. The boardwalk will improve access not only to the pond but also the weeds. Ponds are a wonderful feature in any garden but if safety is a concern there are lots of other options. Even a half barrel can make an attractive and wildlife-friendly water feature. Our small raised pond at college has a thriving population of sticklebacks along with all manner of aquatic creepy crawlies.

Elsewhere in my garden the box hedge has dead patches that look suspiciously like box blight. This serious disease has devastated many a parterre and topiary garden leading to alternative species such as Japanese holly now being planted. Fortunately, my hedge is showing signs of recovery and the dead patches are quite localised and so I shall not be removing it just yet. Box hedges are normally cut before now but can be left until August. To reduce the chance of the blight spreading I will leave cutting the diseased areas until the end and sterilise the hedge cutters before next use. It is also advisable to cut in dry but not excessively hot weather. If buying new box plants it is worth quarantining them for several weeks before planting since nurseries often spray plants with fungicides which may suppress but not kill the fungal pathogen. As a consequence the disease can suddenly appear on apparently healthy plants.

Many woody herbs make good low hedges but lack the formal, neat lines of box. They do however look fantastic in flower and attract a wide variety of insects. July is a good time to propagate many woody herbs from semi-ripe cuttings. Sage, rosemary, lavender and thyme all root readily from 10-15cm shoots taken from the current seasons growth. After removing the lower leaves they are inserted into a free-draining compost with added grit sand. To reduce water-loss the use of a propagator is advisable but failing this a plastic bag can be placed over the pot or tray, take care however that the cuttings do not stay too wet since they can quickly rot. Many woody herbs are not that long-lived and so it is always advisable to propagate a few new plants for your herb garden but if a hedge is required, propagating your own offers an inexpensive way of producing the plants required. A recent visit to the Skipton in Bloom, ‘Herbs by the Kerbs’ project on Newmarket Street reminded me how attractive a wide range of edible plants can be. This tiny pocket park opposite the Diamond Jubilee Community Garden is planted entirely with plants that are edible, although the existing ivy and laburnum should definitely be avoided.

Watering in the summer is a vital part of the gardener’s routine. Drought-tolerant gardens are gaining in popularity but rely heavily on selecting plants that can cope with dry summers. Many herbs and bulbs are well adapted to these conditions and The Beth Chatto garden in Essex has an excellent example of a dry garden planted on the site of the old car park. In spring and early summer the garden is a delight but since the garden is not watered, as the season progresses, it does tend to resemble an arid Mediterranean landscape. Most of us grow at least some plants that need watering through the summer but it is important not to waste this vital resource. Watering in the morning or evening will reduce evaporation whilst self-watering systems and leaky hoses are less wasteful than sprinklers and hose pipes. Watering too little however can encourage roots to the surface and make plants less drought tolerant. If you grow tomatoes the black markings on the fruits are likely to be due to blossom end rot, a disorder caused by calcium deficiency due to the compost being too dry. Hanging baskets and containers quickly let you know when they need watering but it is best not to let them get to this stage since wilting plants are not actively growing. Vegetables and fruit will also produce better yields if kept properly irrigated.

On the College allotment the newly planted gooseberries have established well but there is an amazing variation in the amount of mildew on the different varieties. So far this year the gooseberry sawfly has failed to make an appearance but euonymus planted in the perimeter hedge are host to colonies of web-making spindle ermine moth caterpillars. Elsewhere colourful caterpillars were observed defoliating several verbascum plants. These caterpillars will ultimately metamorphose into the rather dowdy, mullein moth. Since the verbascums were not especially required the caterpillars were left alone although no doubt I would have had a different view on more precious plants.

Last time I mentioned several forth-coming garden openings including Galphay Open Gardens on Saturday 10th July, Kirkby Malzeard Hidden Gardens on Sunday 3rd July, Baildon Open Gardens on Sunday 3rd July, Collingham Village Open Gardens on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th July and Kirkby Lonsdale Open Gardens on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th July. The RHS Tatton Park Flower Show is also soon upon us. This annual spectacular runs from 20th – 24th July however before that the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, billed as the biggest annual flower show in the world, takes place from July 5 to July 10.