Summer Gardening Tips You Shouldn’t Miss
As the warmest months of the year are upon us, it’s crucial to keep your garden looking its best. The summer is the season for spending time outdoors, and this will be easier to do when you have a healthy and attractive garden.
All of your hard work throughout the year has been for this moment, but while you kick back and relax you cannot neglect your landscape. While the summer is the season of colour and bloom, there are some gardening tasks that you need to perform to support this.
At Creative Gardens & Driveways, we have over 25 years of experience in garden design and landscaping, allowing us to understand the importance of summer for our landscapes. If you want to maintain a thriving, healthy garden and enjoy a summer spent outdoors, then you will want to read our summer gardening tips.
Why Is Gardening In Summer Important?
Summer is not only a season of sun-drenched days and outdoor activities, but it is also a crucial time for gardeners.
This time of year holds significant value in the gardening calendar for many reasons and work needs to continue to maintain the health and appearance of your landscape.
During the summer months, most plants and flowers are at their most active growth stage. The longer days and warmer temperatures provide the perfect environment for them to flourish, which is why the summer is such a vibrant season for the environments around us.
But with this growth comes responsibility, and proper maintenance is required to keep your garden healthy during the summer. Summer gardening tips are mainly focused on maintaining and caring for your existing landscape, helping to support the plant life across your garden so it can flourish well.
As we will explore in this guide, summer gardening tips such as regular watering, routine pruning, and the right mix of nutrients are vital to keeping your garden healthy and looking good.
Our Essential Summer Gardening Tips
Summer is the perfect time to spend time outdoors and is a great opportunity to maintain your garden for lasting appeal. In this season of vibrancy and bloom, being in nature can be incredibly fun and allows for plenty of time to get gardening.
Our summer gardening tips allow you to make the most of your garden right now, while also ensuring lasting health for a brighter future.
Watering Wisely
One of the most important summer gardening tips is watering your plants, flowers and foliage. It is vital to ensure that your garden is getting enough water during the summer.
Water is essential for the health and growth of all living organisms, including the plants throughout your garden. As the summer brings warmer temperatures and more sunlight hours, watering becomes even more essential during the summer to prevent your plants from drying out.
It is important that you also avoid overwatering your plants, however, as this is a risk during the summer. Instead, cultivate a regular watering routine that allows you to wisely maintain your plants and support their growth without offering too much or too little.
For example, watering your garden early in the morning or late in the evening to minimise evaporation and ensure that moisture reaches the roots. As the temperature increases, so does the risk of the soil drying out but a regular watering routine like this can prevent this risk.
Our summer gardening tips do include a deep soak of some plants. A deep soak once or twice a week is more effective than frequent shallow watering for some species and is a good option if you are going to be spending time away from your home this summer.
Deep soaks can encourage deeper root growth, making your plants more resilient to dry conditions, but should only be done sparingly.
If you have a lawn, consider installing a sprinkler system with a timer to maintain consistent moisture levels. Just like all other plant life, grass needs to be watered regularly to ensure it grows healthily and this can be easily done with sprinkler systems.
For flower beds and vegetable gardens, drip irrigation systems are an excellent choice, as they deliver water directly to the base of your plants. This helps to reduce waste while also keeping the foliage dry.
Deadheading and Pruning
Mid-summer is the perfect time to tidy your garden by deadheading spent blooms and pruning back overgrown plants.
Deadheading is one of the best summer gardening tips because it not only keeps your garden looking neat but also encourages plants to produce more flowers.
For perennials like roses, geraniums, and dahlias, you should regularly remove faded blooms to prolong their flowering period and keep your garden looking vibrant as the season progresses.
Pruning is another one of our essential summer gardening tips as it helps maintain the shape and health of your plants. To prune, trim back any dead or diseased branches and thin out dense foliage.
Not only does this offer a neater appearance to your plants, but also aids in improving air circulation within the plant and will reduce the risk of fungal diseases.
Summer-flowering shrubs, such as hydrangeas and buddleias, will benefit from a light prune during this time to encourage new growth and more abundant blooms next season.
Feeding Your Plants
To keep your garden in peak condition, it’s essential to provide your plants with the nutrients they need. This is something you need to do all year long but is also one of the most vital summer gardening tips because this is the time when most plants are in full bloom.
During their full bloom, plants and flowers will require additional feeding to support their growth. For these summer gardening tips, use a balanced, slow-release fertiliser to provide a steady supply of nutrients over several weeks to maintain the growth of your plants.
You can use synthetic fertilisers for this or organic options, such as compost or well-rotted manure, to enrich the soil and aid growth.
Feeding plants will vary based on their location and the type. For example, container plants and hanging baskets may need more frequent feeding, as nutrients can leach out of the soil more quickly.
A liquid fertiliser applied every two weeks will help keep these plants healthy and vibrant, so you can enjoy a colourful garden all summer long.
Pests and Diseases
Summer gardening tips often involve managing pests and diseases, as summer is the prime time for the growth of plants, and therefore the pests and diseases too.
During the summer, keep an eye out for common pests like aphids, slugs, and caterpillars, and take action at the first sign of damage.
You have several options to combat pests and diseases, based on your preferences and the needs of your garden. There are natural remedies, such as neem oil or soapy water, which can be effective in controlling pests without harming beneficial insects that you may want to keep in your garden.
During the summer, you also need to keep an eye out for any fungal diseases which may impact your plants. Look out for symptoms such as powdery mildew and black spots on certain plants, as these are prevalent during the summer months and can be fatal.
To prevent the spread of these diseases, ensure your plants have good air circulation and avoid overhead watering by developing a wise routine.
If necessary, you can use a fungicide to treat affected plants and prevent the spread of disease or hire landscape gardeners to help remove the infection from your garden.
Weeding
Summer is the season of growth for all plants, which is why one of the biggest summer gardening tips revolves around weeding.
Weeds can quickly take over your garden if left unchecked, competing with your plants for water and nutrients. Not only do they look unsightly and ruin your garden design, but they can also put your plants at a higher risk of infection and even fatality.
Regular weeding is one of the most essential summer gardening tips and something that needs to continue throughout the season to ensure lasting health and aesthetic appeal.
You can pull weeds by hand or use a hoe to remove them from the root, based on the type and location. When pulling weeds, take care not to disturb the soil too much as this can hinder the plants you do want to thrive.
As well as manually pulling weeds out from the garden, you can apply a layer of mulch around your plants as this can help suppress weed growth and retain moisture in the soil.
Lawn Care
A lush, green lawn is the pride of many gardens, and summer is the time to give it some extra attention. Essential summer gardening tips for your lawn including regular mowing and watering.
It is recommended for you to mow your lawn regularly during the summer, as it can grow quickly and become unsightly. However, while mowing regularly is useful for your garden, you do need to avoid cutting the grass too short.
Cutting the lawn too short can stress the grass and make it more susceptible to drought. This is why it is recommended for you to keep your lawn about 2.5 to 3.5 cm high.
Other essential summer gardening tips for your lawn include aerating for better water penetration. Aerating your lawn can also reduce compaction to promote healthy root growth of the grass.
If your lawn shows signs of wear, consider overseeding with a mix of grass seed to fill in any bare patches. When doing this, also apply a summer-specific lawn fertiliser to help keep your grass green and healthy throughout the season.
Supporting Plants
Tall or top-heavy plants may need additional support during the summer months to prevent them from collapsing under their own weight. As these plants grow taller and wider, it can be difficult for them to withstand their weight.
For summer gardening tips, use stakes, cages, or trellises to provide the necessary support for these plants. Tying plants to their supports with soft twine or plant ties will help keep them upright and reduce the risk of damage.
Plants like tomatoes, beans, and sunflowers can benefit from these summer gardening tips and may need additional support as the season goes on.
Harvesting
If you are growing fruits and vegetables in your garden, summer is a time of abundance and can offer a great opportunity for a healthy harvest.
Summer gardening tips would not be complete without recommending a regular harvest of crops to encourage continuous production. With summer harvests, you can enjoy the freshest produce possible and keep your garden healthy.
Plants such as beans, peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers are just a few examples of vegetables that benefit from regular picking during the summer.
In addition to vegetables, summer is also the time to enjoy fruits like strawberries, raspberries, and cherries if you have them around the garden. Harvesting these fruits at their peak ripeness in the summer ensures the best flavour and reduces the risk of attracting pests.
How Creative Gardens & Driveways Can Help
At Creative Gardens & Driveways, we understand that maintaining a beautiful garden can be challenging, especially during the busy summer months.
Our team of expert gardeners is here to help you with all your summer gardening needs, from watering and pruning to pest control and lawn care. We also offer services from expert garden design to the construction of new driveways to help improve your outdoor spaces.
With our passion for quality workmanship and customer satisfaction, we can help you create and maintain a garden that you can be proud of all year round.
Contact Us
Are you ready to take your summer gardening to the next level? Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve your gardening goals.
