Gardening with Pat Duke: Gardening tips for blooming bliss beyond the longest day

I've lost count of the number of doom mongers who have reminded me about the longest day being last week and how we’re past the halfway mark of summer.
No wonder philosophies about living in the moment are so popular!
The real truth is that we aren't yet half way through because climate change has meant summers are getting longer and even October can be balmy.
What it means in gardening terms is that it’s a good idea to start thinking about timings and how we can have plants that bloom for longer.
I don’t want to bang on again about the long term benefits of dahlias, nicotiana (white trumpets) or cosmos in this respect as they are just favourite species that provide this service. All those three have in common is that they originate from warmer climes where they just go on flowering in the constant sunshine giving them even better chances of reproduction.
If you want to be strolling around the cutting patch admiringly in what is the real late summer then there are other great options such as penstemons, verbenas, salvias and chrysanthemums that will go on flowering as long as there are hours of sunshine in the day, which there will be!
Penstemon ‘Electric blue’ or ‘Firebird’ are startling in colour and just keep coming. It's all too tempting, so much so that you might find you have a garden full of them once you start.
Pretty much everyone has the delicate ‘Verbena bonariensis’ looking over the other plants like a perplexed but mauve Charles Haugtrey. There is however, the larger and lighter violet coloured ‘Verbena rigida’ to consider of you want to be different.
Chrysanthemum ‘Rainbow Hippy Love Child’ is a sparklingly bright daisy shape with crimson, yellow and white petals ready to sow now for late colour.
If a salvia is your choice then ‘hot lips’ seems to be very popular as it goes on into autumn and is heavily scented of sage, lemon and black pepper. Salvias come in larger varieties too like ‘Blue marvel’ that offers pink and purple cones for the bees in the last chance saloon.
ON THE PLOT
Pretty soon there will be water being exchanged for expensive works of art on the dark web given the arid summer. If you’ve planted perennial veg then you’re ahead of the game.
Aparagus, artichokes and rhubarb will all be OK with the minimum level of care.
Any crops in pots can be soaked once a week especially carrots and spring onions. I’ve started to grow carrots in containers away from the inquisitive and hungry local badgers. I don’t begrudge them the odd root and sometimes plant extra for them but I like to keep some for myself and putting them in pots stops them for now using their paws until they work out how to use the steps.
Tomatoes will need feeding with a high-potash feed and if you’ve been having a fire, the wood ash is an additional bonus for them, either mixed with water or just dusted on and raked in gently. When the fruits start to appear it’s feeding time for them until the freezer is full.
Leeks can be planted out in a neat hole and gently water in to avoid grit in the fleshy part. Keep planting them as you could easily use one a day later in the year.
Keep sowing beans before it’s too late. You want the big floury ones like borlotti or butter beans for late crops and pretty flowers again, late into the season.
There is a lot to admire, pick and wonder at right now, so I'd literally try and be mindful while all the colour, scent and flavour is here. It’s the time of year to stop and soak up the best things summer has to offer.