SUMMER GARDENING GUIDE – PART TWO

Last month, we shared part one of our summer gardening guide. Part two is finally here! Keep reading to learn our top summer gardening tips.

Choose your plants: Begin the new season by removing fading spring annuals. Colorful options that love summer’s heat include zinnias, salvia, petunias, marigolds, lantana, and angelonia.

– Add even more color with summer-blooming bulbs like dahlia, canna, and calla.

– Sunflowers attract pollinators; some gardeners even plant them between rows of vegetables. To attract even more bees and butterflies, plant reblooming perennials like yarrow, salvia, dianthus, and catmint and regularly “deadhead” them to produce more flowers.

– Be sure to pick and weed your garden regularly to prepare for the next round of plantings.

Whatever you’re planting, be mindful of spacing. Keeping plants relatively close together leaves less space for weeds to move in, but overcrowding means they’ll be competing for resources.

Consider providing shade: Most flowers and vegetables are susceptible to wilting if they’re exposed to temperatures over 95⁰ F for a sustained period. You can protect them from direct sunlight by setting up a removable shade. Using some combination of PVC pipe, rope, and cloth, it’s a fairly straightforward project. The shade should be at least three to four feet away from the plants so it doesn’t interfere with air flow.

Watch for damage: It’s extremely important to check for signs of damage from insects and diseases. Midsummer is usually peak bug time, and funguses are encouraged by prolonged damp conditions at any point in the season. Both threats can do a lot of damage in a very short amount of time, so prevention is your best option by far. You can fight back against many common pests by patrolling your garden in the early morning when they’re still waking up and flicking them into soapy water. It’s also a good idea to check the undersides of leaves for eggs.

These tips, along with the tips we shared in part one will help keep your garden looking its best for the rest of summer. As always, we at Southern Lawns are always happy to answer your questions and help in any ways we can.