Summer gardening tasks - Prioritizing these 8 essential chores for a vibrant garden this season
As the heat of summer sets in, maintaining a vibrant garden requires careful attention and the right approach. Here are some tips to help your garden flourish during these hot months.
Starting with your shrubs, pruning them now encourages new growth and ensures a stunning display next summer. Deadheading spent flowers from many plants keeps the garden looking its best and encourages repeat blooming. Luke Newnes, a gardening specialist, advises removing spent flower stems from summer-flowering shrubs like philadelphus and deutzia once they've finished blooming.
Wooden fences and decks can be given a new lease of life in July. Ronseal Decking Cleaner and Reviver is recommended for removing lighter dirt or algae spots, while a decking stripper is suggested for removing existing stains, paints, and oils.
July is also the perfect time for mulching borders. This helps lock in moisture and suppress weeds, keeping your garden looking neat and well-maintained. A thick layer of mulch, at least 50mm, is recommended, according to Dickon Harding, gardens and landscape manager at Raby Castle.
Indoor plants can become stressed during heatwaves. To keep them healthy, shift them into indirect light or shaded zones, water them when the compost feels dry an inch down, and feed them with a diluted houseplant fertilizer in the early morning or evening.
After the first flush of flowers, Sarah Raven recommends feeding roses to encourage more blooms. Weekly feeding with a high-potash liquid fertilizer is also recommended for fruit and vegetable crops.
Emma Fell suggests planting salvias, echinacea, and gazania in July for added color and long-lasting blooms.
Gardening in July requires careful watering. Watering garden plants in the early morning or evening reduces evaporation and helps moisture reach the roots. Peter Chaloner advises mowing the lawn during spells of hot weather, as longer grass blades provide shade, reducing moisture loss from the soil. Setting the blades to their highest level helps keep the grass from being cut too short, which could exacerbate moisture loss.
Common summer gardening mistakes to avoid include overwatering, inconsistent watering, choosing the wrong plants for your garden’s light conditions, pruning and fertilizing at the wrong time, neglecting soil quality, ignoring container gardening needs, misdiagnosing problems, and killing all bugs indiscriminately.
Setting up an automatic watering system, such as the Hozelock 25 Pot Watering Kit, can help maintain garden plants during hot and dry weather. Natural methods to deter slugs and snails, such as barriers like copper tape or crushed eggshells, can also be effective.
Remember, tying in plants can be necessary to support their growth, but avoid tying ties too tightly to prevent damaging the plants. Dickon Harding suggests using a granular feed that is not too harsh for the lawn in July to prevent scorching. Upping the humidity around indoor plants can help keep them healthy.
By following these tips, your garden will thrive in July’s summer heat, providing a beautiful and bountiful display for you to enjoy.
- Maintaining the health of indoor plants during July heatwaves involves shifting them to indirect light or shaded zones, watering them when the compost feels dry an inch down, and feeding them with a diluted houseplant fertilizer.
- Pruning shrubs now, like philadelphus and deutzia, encourages new growth and ensures a stunning display next summer, as advised by Luke Newnad, a gardening specialist.
- To keep a garden looking neat and well-maintained, applying a thick layer of mulch to borders, at least 50mm, is recommended by Dickon Harding, gardens and landscape manager at Raby Castle.
- Embracing home-and-garden wellness, Wooden fences and decks can be revitalized in July by using products like Ronseal Decking Cleaner and Reviver for light dirt or algae removal, and a decking stripper for existing stains, paints, and oils.
