Our Top Summer Gardening Tips For A Blooming Season
As we bask in the warmest season of the year, having an attractive and healthy garden becomes even more important. The summer months are the perfect time for outdoor activities, and a well-manicured and vibrant garden makes this possible.
Landscaping is an ongoing commitment and while summer is the best opportunity to take advantage of all your hard work so far, this does not mean your commitments have ended.
As well as enjoying the benefits of being outdoors and your previous seasons of landscaping work, you also need to keep up with some garden maintenance to ensure the ongoing health and beauty of your landscape.
At TM Landscapes & Garden Design, we have over 30 years of experience in landscaping and garden design and understand the vital importance summer has for our landscapes. We understand that this is the season to not only enjoy the great outdoors but to continue caring for it too.
To maintain a flourishing, healthy garden and maximise your enjoyment of the summer outdoors, you will want to consider these summer gardening tips.
Why Summer Gardening Matters
Summer is an important season for gardening enthusiasts because this is the time most plants and flowers are in their most active growth stage. The extended days and warmer temperatures create an optimal environment for plants to thrive, which is why summer is such a vibrant and colourful season for all kinds of landscapes across the region.
With this great growth in our plant life comes great responsibility, which is why you need to pick up some summer gardening jobs. Ensuring the proper maintenance of your landscape during this season allows you to experience a bright and beautiful summer, while also preserving the health of your landscape for next season.
This is why summer gardening tips are so focused on plant maintenance and care, helping with the preservation of your landscape as the season progresses.
Our Top Summer Gardening Tips For Your Landscape
During summer, the best place to be is outdoors so it makes sense for landscaping to be at the forefront of your mind. With the warmer temperatures, summer presents a fantastic opportunity to keep your garden maintained for long-lasting appeal.
Amid this colourful and blooming season, gardening can be incredibly rewarding by offering both short and long-term benefits to your landscape.
TM Landscapes’ summer gardening tips are designed to empower you to make the most out of your garden this season, while also fostering its long-term health and vibrancy.
Wise Watering
One of the most critical summer gardening tips involves watering your plants, flowers and greenery. This is a critical task all year round, but watering is particularly important during the summer as the longer sunlight hours and higher temperatures can cause soil to dry out.
Water is vital for all living beings, including your garden’s plants and additional hydration is needed during the summer to keep the plants healthy.
While keeping the soil moist and preventing your plants from drying out is vital during the summer, you need to maintain a wise watering balance to prevent overwatering your plants too.
Overwatering can be just as harmful to your garden as not watering enough, which is why establishing a consistent watering routine is part of our essential summer gardening tips. With a consistent watering routine, you will efficiently nurture your plants and foster their growth without being too much or too little.
For instance, plan your garden watering early in the morning or late in the evening during the summer, as this minimises evaporation and ensures that moisture reaches the roots to support the plant’s health.
As the temperatures continue to rise during the season, you may want to increase how often you water certain plants based on their location and sunlight exposure.
While it is vital to avoid overwatering your garden, some plants will benefit from a deep occasional soak as opposed to regular daily watering. Our summer gardening tips do include a deep soak for plants with the most sunlight exposure, but this needs to be done only once or twice a week.
Deep soaking plants is a good idea if you are going on holiday or leaving your garden unattended for a few days during the season. Deep soaks are useful because they foster deeper root growth, making your plants more resilient to dry conditions as long as it is done sparingly.
All forms of plant life require increased watering during the summer, including grass and vegetable plots. If you do have a lawn, consider installing a timed sprinkler system to maintain consistent moisture levels during the summer.
As for flower beds and vegetable gardens, drip irrigation systems are a fantastic choice as they deliver water directly to your plants’ bases, reducing waste and keeping the leaves dry.
The easier it is to maintain your watering routine, the better results you can expect from your landscape during the summer and beyond.
Pruning and Deadheading
Mid-summer is the ideal time to spruce up your garden by deadheading spent blooms and pruning any overgrown plants. Deadheading not only keeps your garden neat but also encourages plants to produce more flowers, which is why it is one of the best summer gardening tips.
For perennials like roses, geraniums, and dahlias, regularly removing faded blooms extends their flowering period to keep your garden vibrant as the season progresses.
Pruning is another one of our crucial summer gardening tips and needs to be done regularly to help maintain your plants’ shape and health. Summer-flowering shrubs like hydrangeas and buddleias can benefit from a light prune, encouraging new growth and richer blooms next season.
To prune, cut back any dead or diseased branches and thin out dense foliage. This not only gives your plants a neater look but also boosts air circulation within the plant, reducing the risk of fungal diseases.
Feeding Your Plants
To keep your garden looking vibrant all summer long, it is essential to supply your plants with the nutrients they need. Although fertilising and feeding your plants is a year-round requirement, it becomes one of the most critical summer gardening tips due to the season’s full bloom.
During their full bloom, plants and flowers will require additional feeding to foster their growth and support their ongoing health as the season progresses.
Our summer gardening tips include using a balanced, slow-release fertiliser for the majority of your plants. These fertilisers will provide a steady nutrient supply over several weeks to sustain your plants’ growth as the season progresses.
You can use either synthetic fertilisers or organic alternatives like compost and well-rotted manure for this, as both work to enrich the soil and aid growth.
How and when you feed your plants will vary depending on their type and location. For instance, container plants and hanging baskets may need more frequent feeding, as nutrients can easily be drained from the soil.
For these kinds of plants, apply a liquid fertiliser every fortnight to keep them healthy and vibrant, letting you enjoy a colourful garden throughout the summer.
Managing Pests and Diseases
Summer gardening tips will not be complete without pest and disease management, as these are a high risk during this season and can jeopardise your plants’ health from here on out.
Summer significantly boosts plant growth, and consequently, the pests and diseases that are attracted to them.
During the summer, keep a lookout for common pests like aphids, slugs, and caterpillars and act swiftly if you do notice any signs of damage.
To combat pests and diseases, you can choose from several options, depending on your preferences and your garden’s needs. Natural remedies like neem oil or soapy water can effectively control pests without harming beneficial insects, which you might want to keep in your landscape.
During summer, you also need to watch out for any fungal diseases that may affect your plants. Symptoms like powdery mildew and black spots on certain plants are common during the summer months and can be fatal.
To prevent these diseases from spreading, ensure your plants have good air circulation and avoid overhead watering through a wise watering routine.
If necessary, you can use a fungicide to treat affected plants and prevent the disease from spreading. Alternatively, you can hire landscape gardeners to assist with infection removal from your garden.
Weeding
Summer promotes growth in all plants which is why weeding is one of our essential summer gardening tips.
Weeds can quickly overrun your garden if left unchecked, as they too thrive under longer sunlight hours and warm temperatures. Not only will weeds ruin your garden design, but they can also hinder the health of your landscape as they compete with any other plants for water and nutrients.
This puts your plants at a higher risk of disease and even fatality, which is why weeding needs to be done consistently throughout the summer.
You can hand-pull or hoe weeds, depending on their type and location. When pulling weeds, be careful not to disturb the soil too much as this can impede the growth of the plants you want to thrive.
Once you have removed weeds from the garden, you can prolong the health of your garden with a layer of mulch. Mulch is a natural tool to suppress weed growth and retain soil moisture, helping the plant life you do want in your landscape to thrive as the season progresses.
Lawn Maintenance
A lush, green lawn is the centrepiece of many gardens, and summer is the best time for some dedicated attention to it.
This is why our essential summer gardening tips include regular mowing and watering lawns to experience a healthy, vibrant season. Regular lawn mowing is recommended during the summer as the grass can grow quickly and look unkempt.
However, avoid cutting the grass too short while mowing as this can stress the grass and make it more drought-prone. It is recommended to keep your lawn height around 2.5 to 3.5 cm.
Other crucial summer gardening tips for your lawn include aeration for improved water absorption. Aeration can also decrease soil compactness to promote healthy grassroot growth.
As well as watering and mowing, you may want to consider overseeding the lawn with a mix of grass seed. This can be done to fill in any bare patches if your lawn shows signs of wear, helping to keep it full and lush during the summer.
For the best results, apply a summer-specific lawn fertiliser to keep your grass green and healthy throughout the season.
Supporting Your Plants
Tall or top-heavy plants may need additional support during the summer months to prevent them from collapsing under their own weight. As they grow taller and wider, it can be challenging for them to support their weight and can snap.
Our summer gardening tips suggest using stakes, cages or trellises to offer these plants the support they need during the summer. Tying the plants to their supports with soft twine or plant ties can help them stay upright and reduce the risk of damage.
Plants like tomatoes, beans and sunflowers can benefit from these summer gardening tips as they may need extra support as the season progresses.
Harvest Time
If your garden includes fruit and vegetable plants, summer will be a time of abundance and is a fantastic opportunity for a healthy harvest.
Our summer gardening tips include a regular crop harvest to stimulate ongoing production during this season.
With summer harvests, you can enjoy the freshest produce and maintain a healthy garden. Plants such as beans, peas, tomatoes and cucumbers benefit from regular picking during summer.
In addition to vegetables, summer is also the time to enjoy fruits like strawberries, raspberries and cherries if you have them in the garden. Harvesting these fruits at their peak summer ripeness ensures the best flavour and minimises the risk of pests and diseases, which will also be attracted to their full bloom.
TM Landscapes & Garden Design For Year-Round Landscaping
At TM Landscapes & Garden Design, we understand the work that is required to maintain a beautiful garden all year round and provide garden design and landscaping services to support this.
Our team of expert gardeners is here to help you with all your summer gardening needs, from garden design to lawn care. We also offer the construction of new driveways and paving to help improve your outdoor spaces when you need it most.
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, and allow our expert team to help you. Together, we can achieve your gardening goals for a vibrant summer spent outdoors,