WHAT do you do when the weather is extremely hot but as a keen gardener you find it difficult to sit in the shade and wait for the sun to sink in the sky? Standing out of the sun beneath the shady canopy of your weeping ash tree, trimming the new growth w

WHAT do you do when the weather is extremely hot but as a keen gardener you find it difficult to sit in the shade and wait for the sun to sink in the sky?

Standing out of the sun beneath the shady canopy of your weeping ash tree, trimming the new growth which causes the branches to trail on the lawn and become bent is always a good idea.

Many weeping trees - willows, silver birch and others - lose their charm and overall shape if the branches become too long.

They become splodgy looking and require a little pruning.

July is a good month in which to carry out this task, since no further significant growth will take place before the winter.

You might like to trim your ash tree so that the branches droop to uneven lengths rather than a uniform size since this gives it a more graceful appearance.

The other advantage of shortening the growth is that it becomes possible to mow properly beneath the tree, and again this improves the whole scene.

Don't forget the advantage of nipping out the leading stems of flowering plants to increase side shoots and improve the quantity of blooms.

This is especially important if, for example, your pentstemon cutting, still in a pot, becomes affected by greenfly.

Just nip off the affected leaves and the plant will put on side shoots, become quite bushy and ready to be planted in the border.

Giving it this treatment earlier in the year would mean it was not still in its plant pot.

Finally, always nip out the growing tips of young sweet pea plants to increase flowering and remember this golden rule, "growth follows the knife", applies to a lot of other plants as well.