8 Gardening Tips for Summer

FOLLOW THESE 8 GARDENING TIPS FOR SUMMER

Summer is a beautiful season, as the rain hides away and the sun shines brighter it’s critical to maintain your garden looking healthy and vibrant. With Summer gardening in mind, we’ve got a great list of gardening tips for this season. If you’re looking to spruce up your outdoor space, flower garden ideas, vegetable garden ideas, or ways to prepare and maintain your garden for summer, here are eight summer gardening tips you can use as a summer gardening checklist to get the growing season started right.

Clear the Debris

The first step to preparing for a successful summer gardening space is to clear away any debris that may have accumulated during the spring. This includes dead leaves, twigs, and any other plant debris that may be lying around. The summer season brings out many insect pests so removing debris is critical. You will be happy you took the time to maintain your garden with this summer garden landscaping activity. Adding any additional summer garden plantings will be easy with a clear bed ready for the flourishing season. 

Soil Preparation

Additional summer gardening tips include focusing on where your plants are growing. It’s important to prepare the soil when preparing your garden for summer. In the Midwest, the soil can be heavy and clay-like. Your soil will likely be rocky if you live in a mountain area. Summer garden plants will benefit from adding compost, leaf mold, or other organic matter to improve drainage and nutrient content. You can spread a layer of organic matter over your garden beds and till it in, or use it as a mulch to help retain moisture and suppress weeds. You can also use a soil test kit to determine the pH level of your soil and adjust it accordingly. Be sure to add soil preparation to your summer garden checklist.

Plant Cool-Season Vegetables

Summer is a great time to for vegetables thrive. Planting tomatoes, jalapenos, or leafy greens is best during the season. When getting the garden ready for summer,  vegetables can be planted as soon as the soil is workable, which is typically around mid-April.  Getting your garden ready with summer vegetable garden ideas will give you a great harvest throughout the growing season. 

Start Your Seeds Indoors

If you want to get a head start on your vegetable gardening in summer, you can add starting your seeds indoors to your summer gardening checklist. This is especially useful for warm-season vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, which require a longer growing season. Some summer flower garden ideas to start as seeds inside include: marigolds, zinnia, petunia, and cosmos. To maintain your garden for summer, you can transplant these seeds indoors in late winter or early spring and transplant them outside once the weather warms up.

Plant Summer Ornamental Plants

Gardening in Summer can be a great time to add color and texture to your garden. Summer flower garden ideas can be annuals for pops of color or trees and shrubs to add texture to your summer garden planting. 

Annual flowers: Some popular annual flowers that can be planted in the summer include marigolds, zinnias, and peonies. These flowers will add color and beauty to your garden throughout the early spring and summer. You can plant them in the ground or add them in planters on patios or along walks to add color to the summer garden planting.

Trees and shrubs: Summer is a great time to plant trees and shrubs in your yard. They may still be dormant from the winter but will start growing once the temperatures rise. Some popular options include dogwoods, magnolias, hydrangea, viburnum, and maple.

Mulch Your Garden

One of the top gardening tips for summer includes mulching so that you are maintaining your summer garden. Mulching your garden is an essential step in maintaining healthy soil and plants. Every summer garden checklist should have mulch as an important item. Adding a layer of mulch around your plants can help retain moisture, suppress weeds, and regulate soil temperature. You can use a variety of materials for mulch, such as leaves, straws, or wood chips.

Water Your Plants Regularly

In the Midwest region, the summer season can be quite arid, and it is crucial to water your plants regularly to ensure they receive enough moisture. To keep them from drying out, it is highly recommended to water your plants either in the morning or at night.

Prune Your Shrubs

Additional gardening tips for summer include pruning. You can prep by starting during late spring. Prune back any dead or damaged branches and shape your shrubs to your desired size and shape. Just be sure to avoid pruning any flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed. With the summer flowering plants, wait until after they have bloomed at their fullest potential, and then give them a haircut. 

To summarize, by following these gardening tips for summer, you can ensure that your garden is healthy and thriving throughout the drier season.  Start your Summer garden checklist today with these summer gardening tips to maintain your garden looking healthy and vibrant. If you need additional help with maintaining your space contact us here.