ORCHARD : Stone fruit is drawing its last sugars of summer on this steady fruit day. Gather plums in the cool of the morning when the flesh is firm; handle gently and lay in a single layer for storage. Kiwi vines benefit from a summer pinch now — count 5 leaves beyond the last fruit and cut cleanly to improve fruit size before autumn.
VEGETABLE PATCH : Fruiting crops are in their element today. Sweet pepper plants under glass can be harvested by twisting each fruit gently upward to avoid snapping the stem. Melon fruits approaching ripeness give a faint floral scent at the stalk end — that’s your cue to pick before the skin softens. On sandy soils, water deeply at the base of plants this evening to support final swelling.
LANDSCAPING : Wisteria put on vigorous growth this summer — August is exactly the right moment for its first post-flowering prune. Shorten all long whippy shoots back to 5 or 6 leaves from the main framework; you’ll refine the spurs again in February. A light tidy now encourages next year’s flower buds to form close to the wood.