Summer is very nearly here and this means that the gardening season is well and truly in full effect. With the sunny months upon us, more and more people will be choosing to spend their free time in the garden tending to their plants, lawns and flowers.
But with the warmer weather comes great responsibility. It becomes a far more important job to care for and maintain your garden areas. You also need to be extremely careful when tending to your garden to ensure that you do not make any small mistakes or forget any hugely important jobs that could negatively affect your greenery.
In this article, we will list 5 hugely important rules that you must follow to ensure that your garden is maintained and cared for properly. These simple tips could help you to avoid disaster when the summer months are in full swing.
1 – Keep On Top Of Deweeding
One of the most important rules of summer gardening is to make sure that you are always keeping on top of the weed growth in your garden. This is so important because weeds can be incredibly dangerous to other plants within the garden and can even result in their death.
This is so important within the summer months as this is when weeds thrive most and will start to pop up everywhere, especially if they’re not dealt with quickly. If you have not used frequent preventative measures to stop weeds throughout the winter months then you can expect a large growth of weeds in the early summer as they thrive off of the nutrients given to them by the sun.
The nutrient absorption of weeds is actually the single most dangerous part of plant pesticides. These unsightly and unwanted weeds take the vital nutrients and moisture out of the soil and the sun and stop other younger and more vulnerable plants from getting what they need to grow properly.
A regular inspection of your garden’s lawn, planters and flower beds while pulling up any weeds that you see is all that is needed to keep this problem at bay. While pulling out weeds it is hugely important to ensure that you have fully uprooted the weed. This will ensure that the weeds do not start growing back anytime soon.
2 – Regularly Water Your Plants
The next rule is one that we would hope everyone was aware of. The rule is to ensure that you are regularly watering your plants, especially in long dry spells. Because of the much warmer and drier weather, if your plants go without regular water you can expect your plants to dry out and inevitably die.
Nobody likes to look at a garden full of dead and dried-out plants. Watering your plants 2-3 times a week at the peak of the summer months is more than sufficient to keep your plants looking bright and beautiful.
It can be all too easy to forget about watering your plants. However, the consequences of not keeping on top of it can be catastrophic to the life and the aesthetic of your garden space.
In the wetter winter months, you can get away with not watering your plants as regularly as there is typically moisture in the ground which can help feed the plants. However, in the much drier summer months, the soil can be dry if not watered and can therefore not provide the water needed by the plant to help transport its food.
When watering a variety of plants it is important to do the research as to how much water the specific plants need. This can help you to avoid overwatering and drawing plants. Overwatering can actually drown your plant’s roots which will therefore mean that it is much harder for the plant to get its vital nutrients. This can therefore result in the plant’s death.
3 – Keep Pests Away From Your Plants
Unfortunately in the summer months, it is not uncommon for your garden to become riddled with unwanted pests. Summertime memes that daylight is much longer and nights are shorter. This means that pests have a greater amount of time to feed, resulting in us seeing them far more often than in the autumn-winter months.
While some pests can actually have a lot of benefits within your garden space, many pests can actually be very detrimental. You should be on the lookout for pests such as Aphids, maggots, caterpillars, cutworms and beetles. These are the pests that can cause the most destruction within your garden space.
If you are trying to spot these kinds of pests then you should look out for symptoms such as sticky leaves, holes in leaves, wilting, ragged edges, browning and poor growth. All of these are signs that you could have an infestation of unwanted pests in your garden.
If you see these signs then it is extremely important to act quickly to eradicate the pests and protect your garden. There are a number of different products that you can use to eradicate these pests such as chemicals, natural remedies and beneficial pesticides whose job in your garden is to eradicate the unwanted pests.
4 – Regularly Prune & Deadhead Plants
Another incredibly important rule to remember is deadheading all plants that have started to brown or die. This will not only help to encourage new growth but it will ensure that your garden area is always full of life and colour.
Over the course of a full summer, you should expect to incur many plants that have started to see better days due to the heat. It is extremely important that you go around your garden pruning and deadheading any plants that you think have come to the end of their bloom. This is so important as these plants will be taking vital nutrients, sunlight, pollen and moisture away from younger plants that are growing through.
Every gardener wants to have healthy plants and continual beautiful blooms. Deadheading is vital in ensuring that you get this and in ensuring that your garden stays looking vibrant and full of life throughout the summer season. It will also ensure that your whole garden is far healthier and cared for.
5 – Keep On Top Of Your Lawn
Last but certainly not least, the fifth rule is to always keep on top of your lawn’s maintenance. Let’s face it, our lawns are generally the biggest point of our gardens and therefore the focal point. For this reason, there is no point in spending a load of time and effort on your plants and flowers if you are just going to leave your lawn to grow out and look untidy.
During the warmer summer months, your lawn will grow at a much faster rate than it would at any other time of the year. This is because the grass has more access to sunlight in the summer months. Because of this, you will need to cut your lawn far more frequently than you would at other times of the year.
You should cut your lawn once a week to maintain the healthiest possible lawn. In addition to this, you should avoid cutting the grass too short as this can actually damage the grass leaf. Grass leaf is hugely important as it is an essential food for the grass. By cutting your grass too short and damaging the grass leaf you will make it far harder for the grass to get all the food it needs and for it to stay looking healthy.
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