Summer is a fantastic time to spend in the garden making garden maintenance feel more like pleasure than a chore. However, don’t get complacent; while this is the time to enjoy your garden, try to take a few minutes each day to get your gardening jobs done, too.
- All your hard labour sowing and growing veg will pay off in August, and you will probably be met with an abundance of runners, root vegetables, peas, tomatoes, courgettes, leafy greens... The list is endless! Check on your veg daily and pick regularly to ensure continued growth and to make sure that you get your veg when it is at its best.
- Weeding and watering are as important as ever. So, before you relax in the garden with a glass of something cold, make sure you cast your eye over the garden and pull out a few weeds as you go. Little and often really will help you to keep on top of any weeds. The best time to water is after dusk, to prevent the water from evaporating and to avoid water droplets from magnifying the sun’s rays and causing overheating.
- Cut raspberry canes back to soil level as soon as they stop growing, and tie in any autumn raspberries as they grow to support the canes and prevent snapping. Remove runners from your strawberry plants and repot – these can be used to replace your crop if needed or they make great gifts and will help to make you popular among less green-fingered friends!
- Keep on top of your lawn – make sure that it is watered and cut to a good length, whatever the weather. Even if it has been a summer of minimal growth due to drier weather, the way you treat your lawn now will determine whether or not it manages to bounce back when autumn comes. Mow it long and don’t cut as regularly as normal to promote longer roots.
- Dig out ALL potatoes – if you leave any back, they will repropagate next year, which could lead to disease.
- Sit back and enjoy! After a year of planning and preparation, the summer is the time that you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labours. There is, after all, nothing better than a sun-warmed strawberry or tomato picked fresh from your own garden. As you relax and observe your garden, make a mental note of plants that have been less successful than you would have liked, so that you know what to work on next year.
Is your garden less glorious than you would hope? If you haven’t been blessed with green fingers, why not call in a professional gardener to do the hard work so that you can enjoy your garden at your leisure?