Keeping your summer garden looking its best

One of the best ways to keep your summer garden looking tidy and to encourage more flowers is the simple act of deadheading. Most perennial and all annual flowering plants will flower again if you remove the finished flowers, so being regular in deadheading means a consistent show of flowers through summer and into autumn.

If you have an event happening at your place this summer/autumn and you want flowers (and in particular roses!) to be looking their best at the time, you need to be dead heading them 6 weeks before the date to give them time to reflush and rebloom on time.

There is another benefit to deadheading. Removing the spent flowers stops the formation of seed heads which if left to mature will do their best to spread themselves around your garden, into gravel pathways or cracks in paths or driveways. Some gardeners are happy to let nature take its course but if you prefer to choose where the plants will grow, stopping self seeding is very helpful. This also relates to weed control. If you don’t have time to deal with a weed right now but it has a seed head on it? Pinch off that flower head! Then you only have one weed to deal with rather than a potential 2000 seeds being released into your garden to grow!

To keep summer flowering shrubs looking good and to keep them looking bushy and dense, the time to give them their annual prune is after they finish their main flowering in summer. If you leave it until later in autumn or winter there is a very strong likelihood that you will remove the flower buds for the next summer. So do it in summer after they finish blooming. You may find some that never seem to stop blooming so in those cases you will just have to pick a time and sacrifice some blooms when you trim it. The exception to this rule is of course fruiting shrubs like feijoas, the time to trim them is after they fruit or you will be removing all the potential fruit.

Another thing to consider when planning out your floral show is to consider if you want fewer large size flowers or many smaller flowers. It is the same concept as thinning out the developing fruit to ensure you get bigger fruit rather than lots of small ones. If you want to focus on bigger flowers, removing side shoots, pinching off lateral flower buds and even limiting the number of shoots growing from the crown of a perennial plant will channel energy into the remaining shoots and buds.

Pests and diseases can start to appear as plants get stressed in the summer heat. Doing a regular wander in the garden will help you recognise quickly when a pest or disease appears. When you spot the first signs, ensure you act quickly. Physically removing the affected part of the plant will remove the first infestation and help to stop or slow down the spread. Make sure that you throw the affected parts in the rubbish bin (not on the ground or in the compost bin) and wash your hands if it is a fungal disease. You don’t want to accidentally spread the spores to other plants in your garden. Follow up with an appropriate spray in order to knock out any remaining insects, eggs or fungal spores and follow up with another spray as per the bottle instructions (approx 10-14 days). Fungal diseases do not go away on their own and pests can reproduce generations of offspring in a short period of time so do something at the time you first see it and (pardon the pun) nip the problem in the bud!

Producing fruit and flowers takes a lot of energy so ensure your plants are well fed, either with an appropriate slow release fertiliser or with regular liquid feeding.

If your weather is dry, water deeply but less often. A plant watered deeply once or twice a week will send its roots down deep into the soil where they will be less affected by temperature and moisture fluctuations at the soil surface. When you water, ensure the water is directed at the soil, not over the top of the plant. Water on the leaves increases the chances of fungal disease especially in warm weather. And keep in mind that plants may wilt simply because it is really hot, not because they are thirsty so always check the soil moisture before you water. You may find when you check on them later in the day when it has cooled down they have perked back up without being watered.

Spreading a generous layer of mulch over the soil when it is damp will also help hold the soil moisture in while making the garden look tidy. Mulch will over time improve the quality of your soil as well which is always a good thing!

Finally, as the summer rolls on, make a point of noting any parts of the garden that are lacking summer colour or interest. Go and visit a garden centre at that time as they will have plants in flower available at that time to help you fill the gaps. Likewise if there are plants that are not performing or flower colours are clashing with neighbouring plants, make a note of them to move them in autumn if you want to move the plant or simply get rid of it now and find something that does have a flower colour that works!

Summer is such a colourful time in the garden but it can be a big job to keep it looking good. Think of it like a marathon, it’s slow and steady that wins the race.

Written for Gubba by Kelly Jean Reyland (www.gardenadvice.co.nz)