David Domoney

Advice is given on selecting and growing herbs suited to summer cooking, including Mediterranean varieties that prefer dry conditions and leafier types needing regular moisture. Container growing tips, harvesting guidance and suggested culinary uses are provided. The article highlights Fatsia japonica as a featured plant for shaded areas and offers seasonal gardening tasks such as managing ponds, harvesting blackcurrants and sowing late crops.

Advice focuses on selecting plants that soften, scent, or brighten garden paths across sunny, shady, or dry areas, highlighting options such as hardy geraniums, lavender, thyme, heucheras, and hostas. Guidance includes seasonal care tips on watering, pruning, and plant protection, along with practical July gardening tasks such as cutting delphiniums, tying in fruit trees, monitoring clematis wilt, and managing sun-scorched houseplants.

Guidance is provided on creating an alpine-style garden using hardy, low-maintenance plants such as sempervivum, saxifrage, alpine pinks, campanulas and creeping thyme. Advice includes ensuring excellent drainage, using gritty compost, positioning plants in full sun, and maintaining them with light watering and deadheading. Additional recommendations feature phlox as a standout midsummer perennial and offer seasonal gardening tasks including sowing turnips, pruning cherry trees, taking cuttings, checking for pests and lifting shallots.