• Take cuttings of new shoots of camellias, rooting them in a gritty compost in a covered propagator.
  • Clean pond pump filters to ensure they don’t get clogged up with algae.
  • Harvest Japanese onions planted last autumn.
  • Cut back delphiniums to encourage new growth and the chance of a second display.
  • Obtain cabbage seed for sowing later in the month or in early August, to provide crops next spring.
  • When gloxinias finish flowering, remove faded blooms and gradually withhold water until the leaves wither. Then stand the pots in a dry position where the bulbs can rest until urged back into growth next spring.
  • Feed trees and shrubs that are performing badly with a high-nitrogen liquid fertiliser.
  • Cut culinary herbs and dry or freeze to use later in the year.
  • Feed tomato plants regularly.
  • Make sure leafy vegetables such as lettuces and spinach, as well as fruiting crops, peas and beans, are watered sufficiently.
  • Top up garden pools to replace water lost through evaporation.