Stay on top of summertime gardening tasks and maintenance with this guide .
summertime horticulture can finger like a whirl of activity : The flower need planting before it ’s too hot for them to boom . The mulch needs novel to stop the weeds from taking over . After the first flush , theflowers want to be deadheadedto keep the color coming . It can feel consuming to keep up with , but this summer garden checklist can facilitate you focalize your efforts where it matters most . As you cross off each of these job , you ’ll be maximizing the looker of your garden and supporting the health of your plant .
1. Spread Mulch
Spreading a 2 - in - thick level of mulchover your soil is one of the best things you may do for your garden . The mulch blankets the ground , harbor the soil from the sunshine and keep it cool . That puts less stress on plant roots and also slows moisture loss due to evaporation .
There ’s not a singlebest type of mulch . Anything made from organic matter — tear up Sir Henry Joseph Wood , pine straw , a mix of grass newspaper clipping and shredded leaves — will work . As it decompose , the mulch will assist improve soil structure and add nutrients .
2. Pull Up Weeds
Manytypes of weedsthrive in summer passion and can chop-chop go from tiny to gigantic . It ’s important to remove them from your garden as soon as possible because weeds slip wet and nutrient from your works . Many weeds also encourage insect plague and disease to move in .
Weeds are easiest to pullwhen they ’re young and small ; moist soil makes this task even easier . Another reason to undertake them while they ’re young : You want to finish weeds from producing seeds . Asingle dandelion plantcan yield 2,000 seeds in a year , while lamb ’s quarters can produce 150,000 seeds in a yr . That ’s a lot of future weed you may avoid .
3. Add Color with Summer Annuals
Once summertime passion get in , many leaping - blooming annuals — pansy , snapdragon , osteospermum — will fade . Keep your chiliad looking tidy by removing the spent works and replace them withheat - loving kind , such as angelonia , lantana , Eupatorium coelestinum , flame nettle , pentas , salvia , sweet-smelling potato vine , and zinnia . These summer - friendly annual grow speedily in affectionate temperatures and will presently allow for a beautiful outburst of colour .
4. Plant Summer-Blooming Bulbs
summertime bulbslike calla , canna , and dahlia are an leisurely room to add color to your landscape all summer long . These diverseness are tender , so if you live in a zone where they ’re not dauntless , implant them after all risk of Robert Lee Frost has transcend . Once temperature spring up , they grow apace .
5. Pinch Back Mums and Other Late Perennials
Keep mums , sedums , aster , and otherfall - blooming perennialsstanding tall by pinching the top inch or two of new growth . you may do so up to the Fourth of July . nip the top of the works typically results in more thick , tough increase . It may also boost the growing of more blossoms from the side shoots , though the flowers typically end up a little smaller and seem a duad of weeks later than normal .
Other perennials that you may pinch back in May and June :
6. Remove Faded Flowers
If you get rid of spent blooms from many of your annual and perennial , you might see more flower . Calleddeadheading , this outgrowth prevents plants from producing germ , so they put more energy into making beautiful blossoms .
For plants that self - seminal fluid , deadheading cuts back on future exertion , too . Perennials such ascolumbine , coneflower , andblack - eyed Susan , and annuals such asflowering tobacco , snog - me - over - the - garden - logic gate , larkspur , andspider flowercan ego - seed to the point of being underweight in the garden . Deadheading will preclude an unwanted takeover .
7. Watch for Pests and Diseases
As with weed , keeping an center on plague and diseasesshould be done throughout the entire growing season . But June 21 is a particularly of import time to fight plant - destroying hemipterous insect and disease because that ’s around when their population are really taking off . Some of the most common summer problems to observe for include :
8. Water Your Garden
If your region experience dry summers or a dry conditions form , you mayneed to water your gardenthrough the warmest month to keep it bet its best . Most unwashed garden industrial plant favor an average of 1 column inch of water a week . It ’s best to apply that inch all at once to encourage plant roots to sink down more deep in the soil .
When watering , apply water directly to the ground rather than wetting a plant ’s foliage ; water sit on the leafage can lead to disease . Drip irrigation system and pelter hose are great for this caper .
9. Harvest Vegetables
Do n’t lease hot weather keep you out of the vegetable garden . harvest frequently encourages your plants to continue producing , and limits pesterer and disease problems . ( Insects are attracted to overripe veg that devolve off the industrial plant and start to rot . )
10. Start a Fall Vegetable Garden
Vegetables fall into two basic categories : coolheaded - time of year and warm - season . The warm - time of year varieties — tomatoes , eggplants , peppers , cucumbers , summer squash — bring out in the summer . Once temperature cool , these plants will fleet .
savor continued harvests byplanting aplomb - love vegetables , include broccoli , carrot , turnip cabbage , lettuce , and spinach , during summer . That way , you could enjoy fresh , yummy harvests come autumn .
Credit: Blaine Moats
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Credit: Matthew Benson
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit: Helen Norman
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
