FORAGING IN THE HEDGEROWS
Late July and August are some of the best possible months for foraging. Here are some easily identifiable things to keep a look out for on both urban and rural walks:

• Blackberries / Rubus fruticosus
  It seems a bit early but given the strong sunshine and plentiful rain showers we have had recently, the first berries are almost ready. You are most likely to eat them right there and then, but if you can, put them in the freezer to use for autumn crumbles.

• Elderberries / Sambucus nigra

  The shiny black fruit of the elderberry needs to be cooked before being eaten but they are now ready to be turned into a sophisticated jam or health-promoting syrup. Elderberries are packed with antioxidants, vitamin C and have been found to boost your immune system, so making a syrup is a smart idea before the winter (particularly this winter). Pick the berries off the tree with a fork to save time on the de-stemming later on.

• Hazelnuts / Corylus avellana
  A magical tree and one of my very favourites. Y-shaped branches from the Hazel are traditionally used for water divining or dowsing. Later this month the hazelnuts, cobnuts and filberts will be ready to pick but you’ll have to race the squirrels to them! You can pick them green and then roast them in the oven or ripen them over a few days in a warm, dry cupboard.
  
  The rules of foraging
  Don’t forage near busy roads and near fields to avoid ingesting any vehicle emissions or pesticides. If you are on private land ask permission before you pick. Take only a little and be sure not to damage a plant or habitat so that it can’t regenerate. Most importantly, make sure that you are100% confident you have the right plant before eating it!

SOME FUN GARDEN JOBS FOR AUGUST
I’m mainly interested in doing the fun and satisfying jobs in the garden, or ones that have a gastronomic or aesthetic pay off somewhere down the line, so here are some of my favourite tasks in the garden in August.

• Seed collecting
  Now is the perfect time to collect the seed heads for annual wildflowers like Poppy and Nigella (aka Love-in-the-mist). Give the seedhead a ratlle and pick the driest and noisiest ones. Let the seed heads fully dry for a further 1-2 weeks and then split the pods open and keep the hundreds of tiny seeds in a dry jar or sealed paper bag. Sow in late autumn or very early spring to ensure another flush of flowers the following year.

• Pick and dry herbs
  If your garden herbs like thyme, sage, rosemary and mint are going beserk now is a good time to store some for the winter. They taste much nicer than shop bought jars of herbs. Pick them mid-morning when the morning dew has evaporated and tie them in small bundles with string or garden twine. Hang them in a warm spot, out of direct sunlight and then store them in muslin or a dry paper bag with a couple of holes in until you need them. This air-drying process takes about 2 weeks but you can fast track it by putting the herbs in the oven (with the door open, on the lowest heat setting) for half an hour or so. Just keep an eye on them to check they don’t scorch!

• Plant supports
  We all know that you have to support scrambling vegetables like cucumbers, beans and peas at this time of year but some perennial plants like Foxglove, Rudbeckia, Penstemon, Dahlias and Hollyhocks start to get too top-heavy and collapse at this time of year. Soft garden twine and metal or bamboo sticks or arches can keep them from nose-diving into oblivion.

• Deadheading
  Keep deadheading plants like geranium, rose, yarrow and salvia and you’ll get new flowers continuing to pop up for the rest of the summer. Don’t forget to save some rose petals for the infused honey recipe.

• Tie in climbers
  Keep tying and twining new climber tendrils in when you see them. Try and fan out the shoots to cover your fence or wall and then tie them into your support wires almost horizontally to get more flowers.