Summer is drawing to a close, which means it’s time to start preparing our gardens for the autumn and winter months – and there are a few things you can do now to help your plants thrive next spring
Alice Sjoberg Social News Reporter
06:26, 24 Aug 2025Updated 08:07, 24 Aug 2025
A gardener has shared five tasks everyone with a garden should do this month (stock image)(Image: Guido Mieth via Getty Images)
As summer draws to a close, it’s officially time to start prepping our gardens for the autumn and winter months. While all plants have different blooming times, most will either perish or go into hibernation during the colder winter months.
To help plants flourish and have a healthy start to the new blooming season next spring, there are a few things you could do now to prepare them for spring. To help, gardening expert Michael, known online as ‘The Mediterranean Gardener’, has shared his top five tasks for people to do in their gardens in August to keep them looking their best for autumn.
“Five essential jobs to keep your garden looking great in August,” he said at the beginning of the TikTok video.
He then proceeded to list the five tasks to do now.
1. Remove weeds from lawn
“Now is a fantastic time to remove weeds and prepare the soil for growing seed or laying tarp in September and October,” Michael stated for his first point.
While it’s not necessary to remove weeds from your lawn, many gardeners believe that it will make your lawn look ‘less messy’.
According to The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the best way to do this is to use a hand fork or specialist weeding tool to dig out individual weeds. If part of your lawn is particularly weedy, they recommend using a sharp spade to cut out and lift turf from the area.
2. Prune lavenderContent cannot be displayed without consent
Following on, Michael explained: “Prune lavender once the flowering is over. And while you’re pruning, you may as well take some wood cuttings and turn the leftovers into fire lighters.”
When pruning lavender, cut back the flowered shoots and foliage by roughly one-third, making sure you snip above leaf nodes to promote a neat shape.
This technique helps the plant retain its form while keeping it tidy, and promotes vigorous growth and plentiful blooming.
Steer clear of cutting into the woody stems, as most lavender varieties won’t regenerate from that area.
3. Prune rambling roses
“Prune rambling roses and tie them back into their supports,” he advised for this third tip.
Pruning roses guarantees that plants develop strongly and bloom well annually. If left unattended, rambling roses can turn into a chaotic tangle of branches producing very few blooms. Ramblers are typically pruned in late summer, following their display of flowers and hips.
Just make sure your roses are indeed rambling varieties, rather than climbing roses, which should be pruned during winter months, typically between December and February.
4. Prune wisteria
Just like with rambling roses, you should also remember to prune wisteria at this time of year.
“And you’ve still got time to summer prune wisteria cut back leaves on grapevines to let the sun ripen the fruits,” Michael mentioned in his video. According to the RHS, Wisteria requires regular pruning to control its vigorous growth and overall size, while also enhancing the flowering display.
This should be carried out twice annually – once at the beginning of the year and again during summer between July and August.
Removing growth during summer permits improved air circulation and allows more sunlight to penetrate the base of young shoots, promoting better wood ripening and enhancing the likelihood of flowering.
A bud represents a small, undeveloped shoot containing the potential for fresh growth. Buds are commonly located on stems, where they may be apical (positioned at the tip) or axillary (situated between leaf axils) and can develop into leaves, shoots or flower bud formation. This help the plant to produce more flowers.
5. Deadhead border plants
“Finally, keep deadheading your border plants, unless you want to collect the seeds,” Michael said for this final point.
This involves removing and cutting away any spent flowers from your plants. This practice encourages additional blooms and can extend the flowering period for numerous border plants.
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