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Gardeners with lavender should do a simple five-minute job in August to ensure that the colourful flower blooms as well as it can. Lavender is a gorgeous addition to a British garden, offering a delightful splash of colour and repelling insects from your outdoor space. It is a pretty low-maintenance plant, needing just some watering and not much pruning throughout the year. However, August is when you need to complete this simple five-minute task.

Gardening experts at Netmums have revealed the simple task you need to complete to ensure that your lavender blooms bigger and brighter throughout the year. Lavender should be trimmed back around this time of year. This simple job, which they say takes only five minutes, will prevent your lavender from becoming hard and woody, resulting in better blooms. Lavender typically blooms throughout spring and summer. However, the plants survive well in autumn and winter.

Gardeners should cut off any spent flowers on the plant as well as some leavuy green branches. This will keep the plant neat and tidy until it starts to bloom again in Spring.

Additionally, your lavender will likely have finished blooming by the end of August, so now is a great time to harvest the great-smelling flowers to use in your home.

There are many uses for this, such as keeping your wardrobe smelling fresh and moth-free or using in your bathroom as a natural air freshener.

According to Gardener's World, lavender is typically planted between February and May, or between August and October. As well as pruning existing plants in August, you can prune them in March before they are ready to bloom.

When it comes to pruning, it should not be left any later than September. Pruning and deadheading is important because lavender can become "leggy" if this isn't done. This happens when the plant becomes hard with little foliage.

There are a number of jobs that experts recommend doing in the month of August.

For those growing tomatoes, they are advised to pinch out the tops of outdoor tomato plants. This ensures that the tomatoes that have already grown will become the best they can be, as further fruits will not bloom at this time of the year.

Additionally, rose bushes should be pruned to keep them healthy. Meanwhile, gardeners have been told to keep the ground as moist as possible as a heatwave scorches the UK this August.