Summer Gardening To Do List: Tasks and Projects for Summertime Garden Maintenance

Annuals

Annuals should be dead headed (the dead blooms picked or cut off with pruners) regularly in order to stimulate continued growth. Any annuals that have died should be pulled and – if the plant otherwise seemed healthy – should be tossed in the compost pile.

Weed your annual beds regularly to keep them neat looking, and add mulch as needed to keep moisture in.

Perennials

Dead head any spent blooms to keep the flowers coming on your perennial plants – the plant uses energy on spent flowers instead of growing new ones.

Stake up any taller perennials that might sway in the wind and break.

Prune rose bushes and cut off any spent flowers as they begin to brown in order to promote new flowers. Fertilize and check the plant for diseases and pests, and treat as needed.

Be on the lookout for pests on your plants. Aphids, ear wigs, slugs and snails can all be troublesome on perennial plants. Treat as needed with natural solutions or pesticides.

Bearded iris should be divided now if needed — after they have finished blooming and if they seem over crowded.

Containers, Hanging Baskets and Window Boxes

Container gardens should be watered on a regular basis, especially in extreme heat or extreme dry conditions. Fertilize regularly with all-purpose fertilizer or compost tea.

Any annuals that are beginning to die off should be pulled. These can be replaced with late summer blooming annuals, such as ornamental peppers or mums.

Bulb Planting

Late summer is a good time to plant fall flowering bulbs.

Allium
astilbe
autumn crocuses
spider lilies
hardy cyclamen

are popular choices.

In addition, now is the time to order bulbs for spring blooms – many catalog outlets offer deep discounts prior to the peak buying season.

Herbs

Summertime is when most herb plants truly shine – enjoy them and take advantage of their bounty. Trim the herb plants regularly to stimulate new growth. Watch for diseases or pests in your herb plants, and treat accordingly.

Conclusion

When summer arrives is when most gardens are at their prime. While there are many tasks to do in the garden, be sure to set aside some time to sit back and enjoy your hard work.

This is also a good time to make notes in your garden journal, taking care to write about what plants did well and which ones didn’t, changes you might wish to make next year, and notes on plants or seeds to try out in the garden next year.

The post Summer Gardening To Do List: Tasks and Projects for Summertime Garden Maintenance appeared first on Downtown Homestead.

from Downtown Homestead http://downtownhomestead.com/summer-gardening-to-do-list-tasks-and-projects-for-summertime-garden-maintenance

Comments

Harvest and Store Garden Vegetables

Vegetables gathered at just the right time can be stored naturally or, in many cases, by deep freezing, for use months later in the kitchen. Nature, however, makes its own provision for over- winter storage and the survival of the species, which involves either the production of seed (peas, beans, etc.) or roots to remain in the ground to produce seed heads the following season (parsnips, carrots, etc.). Vegetables in this latter group store much better if left in the ground and lifted as required, or stored in clamps. parsnips can be left in the ground throughout the winter Root crops should never be stored in plastic bags, for they will invariably rot. If you have well- drained soils, where slugs are not a problem, a winter hardy variety of carrot such as ‘Autumn King’ is best left in the ground; carrots stored in sand or peat often shrivel, rot or go moldy. Parsnips are certainly best left in the row; frost improves the flavor but it is a good idea to lift a few at a time during...

What Changes Can I Make to My Garden to Be More Natural?

Gardening has changed a bit in recent years as people’s philosophy of gardening is starting to change to go back to more natural and organic methods. For those who have been gardening for a number of years, these new practices might be a bit hard to understand at first since the traditional ways of doing things is adding chemicals to the soil or plants to take care of problems and grow larger plants. Organic methods work a bit differently. Traditional methods use chemical fertilizers to add nutrients to the soil. Organic methods use compost . This is organic matter and carbon matter mixed together. This would be things like fruit peels, vegetables, grass, hay, leaves, and other types of waste mixed together. Over time it breaks down into rich soil that doesn’t need any fertilizer at all. A good compost is natural and doesn’t require extra chemicals. Pest control is a bit more difficult since you don’t want to use chemicals on your plants that end up killing everything. There are a fe...

Air Condition Your Garden

July, it is the time of the year when air conditioning is as important in the garden as it is in the home. You, as the temperature rises, can cool off with an electric fan, a cool drink or by hiding away in a cool spot. Your plants are not quite that lucky; yet certain gardening techniques can be employed to help your plants through the summer months. The benefits of air conditioning in your garden will show up in the form of increased production, greater resistance to disease and pests and, in general, a more attractive vista. An improper over-heated environment during the warmer months often leads to wilt, dropping of buds and yellowing of foliage. Aeration of the soil is concerned with its exposure to the air. If this is lacking then your plants very likely will suffer this summer. Believe it or not but there are millions of tiny spaces between the soil particles and this is where air resides. Soils that become water-logged force out this air, a condition that leads to souring of ...

Downtown Homestead

Search This Blog