Summer Gardening Tips For A Vibrant Season
Now that we’re in the peak of the warmer months, turning our gardens into a lively and beautiful space has never been more important. Gardening is an important task to do all year round but is significant through summer when the demands of our landscapes increase.
Summer is the season of great growth and with this comes greater responsibility to care for your landscape, allowing you to reap the rewards of your hard work long into the season.
Using these summer gardening tips, you can relish in the great outdoors, under the sun and warmer temperatures, while also knowing you have taken care of the future. Landscaping during the summer not only allows you to have a vibrant season right now but ensures the ongoing health of your garden for the next season.
Knightingale Landscapes has over two decades of experience in landscaping and garden design. We appreciate the crucial role the summer plays in the health of our gardens, which is why we are going to share our top summer gardening tips with you.
Why Is Summer Gardening Important?
Gardeners love summer because it’s the season when most plants and flowers are in full growth. The extended daylight hours and warm weather make it an optimal time for plants to flourish, making summer a vibrant and colourful season for landscapes everywhere.
With the abundance of growth in our landscapes comes the added responsibility of summer gardening. You need to perform specific summer gardening tips to enjoy a bright and beautiful outdoor space this season, as well as preserve the health of your landscape for the seasons to come.
Summer is the perfect time to be outdoors and it is also a perfect opportunity for you to develop a green thumb and take care of your landscape.
Our Summer Gardening Tips for Your Landscape
With the season’s warmth, summer provides a splendid opportunity to maintain your garden for enduring appeal. Gardening can be extremely rewarding in this colourful season by offering both immediate and long-term benefits to your landscape.
Knightingale Landscapes’ summer gardening tips to help you optimise your garden experience and prolong the health and beauty for next season with specific landscaping jobs.
Proper Hydration
Watering your plants, flowers and foliage is crucial throughout the year but becomes even more important in summer. The prolonged sunlight and higher temperatures of summer can cause the soil to dry out, making watering even more vital as the season progresses.
It’s essential to strike a careful balance of watering to avoid overwatering, which can be as damaging as under-watering. Consistent, wise watering is part of our essential summer gardening tips, as by having a regular watering routine, you can nourish your plants effectively without risking too much or too little hydration.
During the summer, water your garden early in the morning or late in the evening to minimise evaporation and ensure that water reaches the roots to nourish the plants.
While you shouldn’t overwater your garden, some plants do need occasional deep soaking, especially those exposed to more sunlight. These deep soaks help foster more profound root growth making your plants more resistant to dry conditions, but should only be done occasionally.
Deep soaks are ideal if you are going on a summer vacation or when leaving your landscape unattended for a period, as they can keep plants hydrated without frequent attention.
If you have a lawn, consider installing an automatic sprinkler system to maintain regular moisture levels during summer. For flower beds and vegetable gardens, drip irrigation systems are an excellent choice as they deliver water right to the base of your plants, reducing waste and keeping leaves dry.
Keeping your watering routine simple and easy to maintain can yield the best results for your landscape during 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 as the season progresses.
Pruning is another one of our crucial summer gardening tips, as regular pruning helps maintain your plants’ shape and health. To prune, remove any dead or diseased branches and thin out dense foliage. This not only gives your plants a cleaner look but also enhances air circulation within the plant, reducing the risk of fungal diseases.
Summer-flowering shrubs like hydrangeas and buddleias can benefit from a regular, light prune during the summer encouraging new growth and richer blooms in the following season.
Feeding Your Plants
To keep your garden looking vibrant all summer long, it is essential to provide your plants with the nutrients they need. During their full bloom, plants and flowers require more support and feeding to foster their growth.
We recommend using a balanced, slow-release fertiliser for most of your plants. These fertilisers provide a steady nutrient supply over several weeks to sustain your plants’ growth. You could opt for either synthetic fertilisers or organic alternatives such as compost and well-rotted manure, as both enrich the soil and aid growth.
The method and frequency of feeding your plants depend on their type and location. For example, container plants and hanging baskets may need more frequent feeding as nutrients can quickly be drained from the soil.
For these kinds of plants, apply a liquid fertiliser every two weeks to keep them healthy and vibrant, helping you enjoy a colourful garden throughout the summer.
Managing Pests and Diseases
Our summer gardening tips would not be complete without advice surrounding pest and disease management. Both pests and plant diseases pose a high risk during the summer and can jeopardise the health of your landscape.
During the summer, keep an eye out for common pests like aphids, slugs, and caterpillars and act swiftly if you 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.
During summer, you also need to watch out for fungal diseases that may affect your plants. Symptoms like powdery mildew and black spots are common during summer and can be fatal if left to spread.
To prevent these diseases from spreading, ensure your plants have good air circulation and avoid overhead watering. If necessary, you can use a fungicide to treat affected plants or hire landscape gardeners to assist with infection removal from your garden.
Weeding
Summer promotes growth in all plants, which is why weeding is another one of our essential summer gardening tips. Weeds can overwhelm your garden quickly if left unchecked, spoiling your garden design and affecting the health of your landscape by competing with other plants for water and nutrients.
Weeding needs to be done consistently throughout the summer to keep your garden neat and healthy. Weeds can be removed by hand or using a tool like garden hoes, but you do need to take care to not disturb the soil too much.
Once you have removed the weeds, you can protect the health of your garden with a layer of mulch. Mulch naturally suppresses weed growth and retains soil moisture, assisting the plants you wish to thrive in your landscape.
Lawn Maintenance
A lush, green lawn is the centrepiece of many gardens, and summer is the best time for some dedicated attention towards it. Our essential summer gardening tips include regular mowing and watering lawns to ensure vibrancy and health.
Regular watering and mowing can support the health of your landscape well into the summer and beyond, ensuring you have a lush lawn to return to next season.
It is important to maintain a good lawn length during the summer, to prevent it from drying out and becoming at risk of drought. It is recommended that you keep your lawn about 2.5 to 3.5 cm high.
As well as watering and mowing your lawn, you may also want to consider overseeding the lawn with a mix of grass seeds. This can be used to fill in any bare patches if your lawn shows signs of wear, helping keep it full and lush during the summer.
Supporting Your Plants
Tall or top-heavy plants might need additional support during the summer months to prevent them from collapsing under their own weight. As summer is the season of growth, tall and heavy plants can become even bigger and therefore more at risk of collapse.
You can use stakes, cages or trellises to offer these plants the support they need and tie them with to the support using soft twine or plant ties.
Plants like tomatoes, beans, and sunflowers can benefit from these summer gardening tips and may need additional support during this season.
Harvesting
If your garden includes fruit and vegetables, summer provides a great opportunity for a healthy harvest. Regular crop harvesting stimulates ongoing production during this season and allows your garden to remain healthy and vibrant all season long.
Plants such as beans, peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers are just a few examples of vegetables that benefit from regular picking during the summer.
Summer is also the perfect time to enjoy fruits like strawberries, raspberries and cherries. Harvesting these fruits at their peak summer ripeness not only ensures the best flavour but also minimises the risk of pests and diseases.
Knightingale Landscapes: Your Trusted Landscaping Experts
At Knightingale Landscapes, we support landscapes and gardens all year round with our services and understand the importance summer plays in gardening.
Our team of experienced gardeners can assist you with all your summer gardening needs, as well as offer other services to transform your outdoor space for years of enjoyment. From garden design to paving and driveway installation, we offer a range of solutions to our clients.
Our dedication to quality workmanship and customer satisfaction allows us to help you create and maintain a garden that you can be proud of all year round.
Contact Us
If you want to make the most of this season, then professional help may be needed. Contact us today and let our expert team assist in creating a vibrant summer outdoors.
