August is traditionally the month that autumn planting bulbs start to appear in the Garden Centre. I know it seems a bit early to be thinking about next spring's flowering display, but by deciding now which plants you would like in your garden, you will get the best choice of large quality bulbs.

When choosing bulbs go for the largest bulbs available, as generally they will give a much better display than a smaller grade bulb.

Select bulbs/corms which are firm, clean and dry as opposed to damp soft bulbs which will more than likely fail to grow.

Most bulbs give the best impact when planted in clumps of say 5-10 bulbs, but this depends on the type - you will need more Snowdrops for a good display than say larger Daffodils. Don't however, plant really dense clumps, as most bulbs double in number every year and overcrowding can lead to a poor show of flowers.

There are bulbs suitable for most sites, sun or shade but all dislike their bases sitting in cold wet soil, so when planting put 1" (2.5cm) of sharp sand or grit in the base of the hole and set the bulbs into it at about 2" (5cm) spacing's. This will give room to grow and allows for good drainage. Most bulbs should be planted to twice their depth under the ground, with the exception of small bulbs like Crocus, Snowdrop and Anemones which should be planted 3" (7.5cm) deep.

August is also the best month for pruning and tidying evergreen shrubs and hedges.

Escallonia can be pruned from now through till September once flowering has finished as can Laurel (Common or Portuguese), this tidies it up and slows down growth giving a tougher plant for winter.

Green or Golden Privet along with hedging Honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida and Baggesens Gold) should be given their final trim soon. Leave it any later and there is a chance that further new growth will not have a chance to harden off properly before the autumn and could get caught by early hard frosts, causing the tips of the foliage to go black and damaging growth buds.

Conifer hedges such as Leylandii, Lawson Cyprus and Western Hemlock will all benefit from a good prune now.

Prune so that they have a slightly conical profile, this allows more light into the lower parts of the hedge and helps eliminate problems with the bottom of conifer hedges all going brown. Remember when pruning conifers don't cut back into the brown wood as they are unlikely to recover.

When pruned, all will benefit from a top dressing of compost and also some fertiliser. Use a high phosphate feed which is low in nitrogen, so as not to encourage too much soft growth in the autumn.

See you next month.