Tips to Achieve the Summer Garden of Your Dreams

A garden filled with colorful and lush flowers or tons of vegetables is a dream for many people. As the summer begins, people are rushing to get their gardens ready to face the scorching heat of the sun once more. A summer garden is a fantastic place to de-stress and an excellent area to entertain guests. However, getting your summer garden to come to life can be pretty stressful considering the lack of rain and immense heat.

During winter and fall, your garden becomes exposed to many outside elements. So a lot of prep is required to get your summer garden healthy for the spring and summer seasons.

Remember, a summer garden is as an extension of your home, and nobody wants an untidy outdoor space. Nothing screams summer more than a beautiful garden. But before you start the process of revamping your garden, make a list of all the things you need to do so that you don't miss anything.

Preparing a summer garden can get quite overwhelming. So, while you're in the process of transforming your land into the garden of your dreams, don't forget to smell the beautiful flowers and enjoy the benefits of all your hard work. Here are a couple of summer garden tips and tricks that will help you make your outdoor space the best that it can be for the season.

Many areas require your attention if you want your summer garden healthy and beautiful. Here are some of the more important tasks to consider for transforming your garden space into the beautiful area you deserve for your summer garden.

Mow your lawn

On average, Americans spend over $6 billion on their lawn care. Most homeowners don't look forward to mowing their lawn. But, it seems no matter how hard you try to make your garden look good, your effort will be useless if you don't mow your lawn. Also, re-sow any bald patches. Remember that mowing your grass is essential if you want to keep your summer garden in top condition. If you do not mow your space correctly, it will struggle to flourish.

Mowing grass does keep the aesthetic value of your garden. Mowing your garden area can also help your lawn grow lushly. And it promotes the utility of the space. The garden becomes much more inviting when manicured. Shorter weeds and grass also limit pest invasion by providing less housing space for these unwanted guests.

Remove weeds

Unwanted weeds can ruin your summer garden because they compete with your plants to get water and nutrients from the soil. And when there is too much heat and not enough water for the plants, the weeds may be getting all the nutrients. Controlling your weeds before you get your garden ready is a must. To kill garden weeds, follow these easy remedies.

Introduce compost to your summer garden

To have a great summer garden, you need great soil. To help with this, you can make your own compost. Compost is something many people are familiar with. But what does it do? Compost is a fantastic and practical fertilizer for your plants. It contains organic matter that has decayed. In short, you can add food scraps, twigs, leaves, coffee grounds, and grass clippings to make your compost. Use of compost is one of the most critical secrets to maintaining a lush garden.

Compost has countless microorganisms that help break down organic matter into available nutrients. These nutrients serve as food for your plants. And your compost will help introduce nitrogen to your summer garden, which is what your plants need to grow.

Since no compost is the same, it is vital to know what condition your compost is in. If it is new, then it needs more time to break down organic matter into nutrients. However, if it is an older mixture, you can add it easily to your plant bed. If you do not have enough time to make or maintain your compost, you can easily get bagged compost at your local gardening store.

Fertilizing your plants during the summer season can cause stress to your garden. This potential problem is why adding compost is a better way to feed plants because it is not going to shock any root systems. Plants already stressed from heat, lack of water, insects, or other diseases should not come into contact with fertilizer.

Know how to water your plants

Watering your plants is the most crucial aspect of maintaining your summer garden. It is also vital to understand how to water your plants properly. During the summer, it is better to water your plants slowly every few days rather than giving it a little bit of water once a day. This is because your goal should be to let the water be absorbed deeply by the root system. If you water lightly and frequently, the water will not go deep, and your plant might die of thirst. To understand whether or not your plant is dry, you can poke your finger into the soil. You need to add more water if your finger comes out clean or with just a little bit of dry soil.

Become familiar with wilting

Even if you water your plants properly during the summer, you will notice that the leaves will still droop at certain times. This drooping of plants is called wilting. If you see your plants drooping, do not worry too much. Do not water them in an attempt to perk them up. At this time, the plant is conserving its resources by not sending too much food, water, and energy to its branches. So do not overreact.

Get to know summer plants

Nothing says summer garden more than an excess of colorful plants. If you want to keep pollinators happy, it is essential to know that there are plants that thrive more during the summertime. Plants such as salvia, yarrow, coneflower, flowering purslane, sedum, and ornamental grasses are very low maintenance and will bloom even in a dry area. These plants can even last after the summer has passed.

Furthermore, you should also consider mixing up ornamentals and even edibles. You can try to plant Dinosaur kale or other edible flowers that you can use when you make salads for your family and friends. These plants won't just function as accents, but will also have a purpose.

Other ways to make sure that your garden keeps looking great is to add colorful containers. In mid-season, make sure to cut back your trailing plants. You can also replace plants that droop with new plants to ensure that your summer garden maintains its lush appearance.

Now that your summer garden is on its way to looking its best, it is a great idea to maximize the enjoyment of your hard work. So in order to fully enjoy your summer garden, here are a few essential tips.

Organize your shed

If you have a shed, it is important to go through it before the gardening seasons gets into high gear. Through this process, you can determine the things that you need. To organize your shed, sort the items into piles of things that you want to keep and things that you can discard. Before you put back all the stuff that you decide to keep, clean your shed out first. A clean shed makes the maintenance of your summer garden a much more pleasant experience.

Get your garden furniture out

Since this particular time of the year is the best time to gather all your loved ones for a get-together, you can turn your summer garden into the perfect venue. If you have outdoor sofas, you can set them up. However, make sure to take all the cushions off your outdoor furniture. You can also choose to paint your furniture a new vibrant color. Garden furniture needs to look inviting. And remember, your summer garden will look amazing, so it is important that your furniture does too.

Set up a grill

Since summer is the ideal time to have a barbecue, get your grill ready. Depending on the type of get-together you want to have, it is important that cleaning is a part of your routine. You can choose to have a masonry barbecue, which only requires a little bit of work before starting to cook anything. But make sure that you have gotten rid of any rust that has built up in your grill during the winter. If you chose to store it for the winter, dust it off a bit before you set up a hearty feast.

Set up garden lighting

Your garden just doesn’t have to look good when there is sunlight. If you want people to appreciate how your flowers and other blooms look at night, you can install discreet lights. This essential tool significantly adds dimension to your summer garden. So if you want to highlight some plants, you can adjust the lighting accordingly.

If you are having a get together with other people in your garden, you should not let the fun stop just because the sun sets. If your garden features al fresco lighting, you can let the fun continue into the night. The right choice for outdoor lighting, whether you prefer solar lights or LED lighting, can help your space become more comfortable. Proper lighting can also help you enjoy the pleasant summer temperatures at night.

Automate your garden

Gardening is a fun task whether it involves picking out weeds, re-planting your flowers, or watering your plants every day. However, gardening does not have to take up tons of your time. Summer should be a time when you can go out of the house and not worry about anything. The good news is that you can automate your garden to keep it blooming and healthy.

To water your lawn, you can set up an automated sprinkler. This automatic watering system does not even take the whole afternoon to install. And the sprinkler system is activated by a timer. Once the timer is activated, it sprays your plants with the desired amount of water. Or if mowing your lawn is a chore for you, you can get a robot. An automower such as the Husqvarna 230 ACX is a convenient possibility to add to your gardening maintenance equipment.

And allotting enough time to check on your plants, and removing the dead ones, can be very tiring. To help you with this, you can get an infrared digital camera. After you replace the infrared filter with a blue one, you have your own photosynthesis camera, which can help you determine which plants are not absorbing much light. The use of such light helps speed up identifying which plants are healthy and which plants need replacing.

Gardening is not only a great reliever for stress, but it can also be a fantastic form of exercise. Even light gardening can burn off 87 Mars bars per year. Summer can be a challenging time to make your garden bloom. However, you can still manage the health of your plants if you know how to balance the elements. Now that you’re armed with these summer garden hacks, you are surely ready to level up your garden even in harsh conditions.