Even though summer has really just arrived, it won’t be long before we’re sweltering in August heat. And that August weather will take its toll on your garden. What’s a poor gardener to do? Here’s how to beat the summer scorching and give your garden a second life.
Bring on the colour
There’s nothing like instant colour to perk up a tired-looking summer garden. Adding vividly coloured, full-size plants just coming into bloom is a great way to get that boost, suggests master gardener Fred Rheingold of Rheingold Farms. Because late summer is an ideal time to buy discounted plants, try filling in bare spots with colourful additions from your local garden centre. “Past-their-prime annuals can be replaced with fresh blooms such as lilies, fuchsias, ornamental grasses and hydrangeas,” he advises. Or go for brightly coloured summer bedding plants such as marigolds, petunias or impatiens.
Add movable containers
Adding potted bulbs and container plants are other quick-fix solutions. Because they’re portable, potted bulbs such as angels’ trumpets can be moved around the garden as colour accents, filling in gaps in your beds and borders. Some gardeners prefer colourful container plants such as brilliant red or bright pink geraniums (which also have a wonderful scent) or coleus (which are enjoying a revival right now) and place them along the garden sidelines so they’re easy to move into bare spots as needed.
Consider cool-season flowers
Another way to add a burst of colour to a fading summer garden is to plant a bevy of cool-season flowers. Charles Nardozzi, a senior horticulturist with the National Gardening Association in the U.S., suggests planting pansies, violas, primroses, snapdragons and chrysanthemums at the end of the hot summer. “These will flower until the first freeze, and some pansies and violas will even endure temperatures as low as 20°F (7 °C).” Or consider a lush fall foliage tree, he adds. Nurseries today carry spectacular foliage trees such as maple or dwarf crape myrtles, which sport beautiful red blooms in late summer and stunning maroon foliage through fall.
Get ruthless
Most of all, though, you’ve got to be ruthless when the season’s hot, humid weather wreaks havoc on your precious plot. Otherwise, it could promote wilt diseases, outbreaks of spider mites, other insects or various types of mildew. (Mildew won’t kill plants outright but will weaken them, resulting in less lavish flowering and fewer fruits.) Many gardeners feel that to avoid affecting the rest of the garden, it’s best to remove struggling plants, especially in instances of pest infestation or wilt. “If it gets too aggressive or too wimpy, or gets mildew, just yank it,” posted one gardener on a popular garden site. And don’t fret. Removing unwanted plants will just open up a space to plant something new.
Clean it up
Not only will your garden look a lot better if you do a little tidying, but you also may be able to encourage a whole new round of growth before summer’s end.
Deadhead regularly
Removing old, spent flowers (called deadheading) can help keep plants blooming all season long. To spur growth further, Nardozzi suggests adding a shot of liquid fertilizer to your watering can before watering.
Give a good trim
Cut back reflowering plants such as overly leggy petunias, geraniums, spiderwort, impatiens, phlox and bee balm. This tends to give them a second wind for another round of blooming.
Keep it neat
While it’s not the time of year for major pruning, do prune any overly aggressive plants that are crowding out their neighbours. Your garden will look less cluttered, and your plants will benefit from the additional growing space and breathing room. Don’t neglect weeding, but do use twine and stakes to prop up plants that look precarious or have already fallen over.
Refresh mulch
Perk up your garden by raking off old mulch and replacing it with a 2- to 3-inch (5 to 8 cm ) layer of fresh mulch or organic compost. Mulch not only improves the garden’s appearance (bare dirt can be unsightly) but also helps inhibit weed growth and conserves water.
Watering wisdom
To beat the summer heat, more frequent watering is essential for keeping plants healthy, growing and looking good. If you’re planning to be away over the weekend, check out self-watering containers, available at most garden centres; these containers have little reservoirs in the base. When the reservoir is filled with water, it naturally wicks up to the soil so your plants can drink up even when you’re not at home! Consider adding water-absorbing polymers to your potting mix, suggests Nardozzi. Also available at local nurseries, these tiny crystals absorb water, expanding until they resemble small cubes of clear gelatin. As the soil dries, the water is released from the crystals, allowing the soil to stay moist.
Keep bugs away
Ensure you can enjoy the fruits of your late-summer labour by keeping the bugs at bay with an OFF!® PowerPad® Mosquito Lamp. Or, for strolling through your private garden of Eden, apply OFF!® familycare® Eucalyptus Lotion.
Late summer is a particularly bad time for yellow jackets and wasps. Rid these nasty stingers from your revitalized garden with a Raid EarthBlends® Disposable Yellow Jacket Trap.
Recycle containers
Remember that plant containers can easily be reused from season to season. Charles Nardozzi suggests that when spring flowers start to droop, you remove and replace them with summer blooms such as angels’ trumpets (he recommends the new dwarf variety, which boasts fragrant yellow-peach flowers). Then in the fall, replace fading summer bloomers with cool-weather vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, radish, broccoli or kale.
