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Head gardener Benjamin Pope is here to make sure your garden looks great all year round. His practical gardening magazine column series continues all year round, and his tips on what to plant in July are a taster of what you can expect. For the full column,\u00a0subscribe to\u00a0Gardens Illustrated<\/em>\u00a0magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss our suggestions of\u00a0the best flowers in August,\u00a0what gardens to visit\u00a0and the\u00a0gardening jobs for the month.<\/p>\n As summer continues, both planting and seed sowing slow down in the productive garden. Most biennials should have already been sown but, I\u2019d still give foxgloves<\/a> and verbascums<\/a> a go; both will grow quickly in the cooling months to come.<\/p>\n However, now is a good time to sow autumn<\/a> and winter<\/a> salads and leaves, so that they reach a substantial size before the days become short. Good cultivars include lettuces \u2018Winter Density\u2019 and \u2018Winter Gem\u2019, grown alongside mustard \u2018Red Frills\u2019, rocket and the very hardy lamb\u2019s lettuce \u2018Favor\u2019. I also like to do a sowing of beetroot, where the hardy earthy leaves make great additions to salads.<\/p>\n Given a little protection (fleece or polythene tunnel) they will all happily crop through autumn and winter and into early spring. Oriental brassicas and perpetual spinach are other plants that will enjoy the months to come, where day length and temperature make them less likely to bolt.<\/p>\nWhat to plant in August<\/h2>\n