10 Need to Know Summer Gardening Tips
Awe summer. One of the best seasons of the year!
If you are a gardener, it is exciting to watch what you have planted grow and to see your flowers blossom.
If you have a vegetable or flower garden, below are 10 key tips and tricks that we have found to help keep your garden healthy this summer:
- “Trim back the perennial plants that are done blooming to clean up dead flower spikes and remove seed pods.” (Source: Savvy Gardening)
- “Be waterwise. Mulch beds with organic matter to suppress weeds and help retain moisture.” (Source: Garden Design)
- “Squash borers are a common pest in the vegetable garden, and this is the time of year they start to rear their ugly heads. Check around the base of your squash vines for signs of the borers. If you see mushy sawdust or holes in the vine, you can save the plants by digging out the squash borers and burying the vines with dirt.” (Source: Savvy Gardening)
- Follow a 2-week cycle when fertilizing your plants. This will give your plants a nutrient boost and increase growth. Just be careful not to over fertilize as doing so can cause plants to die. “Gardens that are over fertilized can sometimes be saved, depending on the amount of fertilizer you applied and how quickly you act. Managing fertilizer burn in the garden depends on your speed at recognizing the signs in your plants.” (Source: Gardening Know How)
- “In mid-summer, cut back trailing annuals such as petunias and million bells by half and give regular feedings of water-soluble bloom booster fertilizer for a new flush of color. Replace tired-looking plants with new ones for an updated look.” (Source: Garden Design)
- “Take a half hour early each morning while it is still cool outside to pull any weeds that have invaded your garden.” (Source: Farmer’s Almanac)
- “Struggling with weeds? Add a thick layer of mulch to try and help keep the weeds at bay.” (Source: Savvy Gardening)
- “If you started some early or mid-summer plantings of beets or carrots, it’s time to give them room to form their fat roots. Try for a spacing of two finger-widths between plants.” (Source: Farmer’s Almanac)
- “Watering is critical in mid- and late summer, when the heat is on high. Put out a rain gauge to determine just how much water you are getting from those thunderstorms: one to two inches a week is optimum. If you are not getting that much in rainfall, it is time to do some deep watering yourself.” (Source: Farmer’s Almanac)
- “Feed annuals and container plantings with a foliar fertilizer to boost summer blooming power.” (Source: Savvy Gardening) Earth Smart Solutions carries a Foliar Fertilizer (ESFF) in 2L and 20L sizes. ESFF is a broad-spectrum natural garden fertilizer formulated for flowers, trees, shrubs, fruit, vegetables, root crops and ornamentals. A few benefits to note are it enables rapid correction of nutrient deficiencies, reduces plant stress, improves plant health and improves yield. You can purchase our foliar fertilizer here.
We offer an assortment of natural products to help your garden grow and blossom. Learn more about our gardening products here.
Check out this photo that one of our clients sent us of their flowers after using one of our gardening products. Learn more in this Blog: Can you Spot the Earth Smart Plants.
Happy Summer and Happy Gardening!
Sources:
Savvy Gardening - Savvy summer gardening tips to keep your gardens in top shape
Garden Design - Summer Garden Tips
The Old Farmer’s Almanac - Summer gardening tips to keep your garden growing
Gardening Know How - Too Much Fertilizer On Plants: Managing Fertilizer Burn In Gardens