Tips for Summer Gardening
Protect Yourself!
- Use plenty of high factor sun protection (Factor 30 and above) on face, arms, legs, tops of ears and any other exposed skin. Reapply this every 2 hours.
- Wear a wide-brimmed hat for extra protection.
- Avoid gardening at the hottest times of the day, especially is heat warnings are in place to avoid heat exhaustion. Always drink plenty of water to keep hydrated.
- Take plenty of rest breaks in a cool area to prevent yourself overheating.
- Wear insect repellent to protect yourself from stings and bites, as insects such as bees, wasps, midges and ants are more active in the summer.
- Monitor yourself. If you begin to feel dizzy or unwell you could be experiencing heat exhaustion, so stop gardening immediately and rest.
SUMMER ACTIVITIES
Here are some of the tasks you could do during the busy summer months. As already mentioned on our ‘Get Involved’ page, these are colour coded according to the level of activity. Here is a reminder:
Green activities – these are gentle activities which can be done seated or walking around and include things like sowing seeds, doing craft to go in the garden, potting on plants, preparing seeds or bulbs for storing, light weeding in containers with a trowel and deadheading of plants.
Blue activities – these are medium level activities which use mainly upper body but can also sometimes involve stretching or kneeling and include planting and weeding in beds, pruning and cutting back plants which may have grown tall and using wheelbarrows.
Purple activities – these are higher intensity activities and may involve digging, mowing, laying bark and putting in plant supports.
GREEN ACTIVITIES
Everybody can do these!
| Activity | Outline | When/How Often |
| Water Plants in Containers | Use a watering can if you can or a hose. Direct the water to the base of the plant to make sure the roots get the water. Water deeply until water drains out of the bottom of the pot. Avoid letter plants sit in standing water. Use pot ‘feet’ to allow pots to drain. | Water containers daily if the weather is hot and dry. Smaller pots dry out faster. |
| Feed indoor plants | Use a liquid concentrate feed and follow instructions. Flowering plants need a more potassium rich feed in summer – if you use tomato feed, dilute it twice as much as for tomatoes, as too strong for houseplants. | Feed every 10 – 14 days |
| Deadheading roses and other flowering plants | Deadheading means you will get more flowers on your plants. Wear gloves and use small secateurs or snips. Cut just above the next leaf on the stem. | Try to deadhead as soon as flowers die off or the plant will sue its energy to produce seeds. |
| Sow foxgloves | Sow the seeds thinly on the surface of seed trays filled with fine compost or directly into the ground where they are to grow. Young plants can be overwintered in a cold frame or a sheltered spot outdoors. Foxgloves are biennials (flower the second year after planting) so sowing in August will mean they flower the following summer. | Collect seed from pods once flowers have died back. Sow in August. |
| Look after tomato plants | Make sure compost is kept moist Feed with high potassium fertiliser Use canes to support cordon tomatoes (as opposed to bush tomatoes) and tie in plants Remove side-shoots to keep plants growing vertically up canes and to prevent plants becoming straggly with fewer fruit. | May need to water daily in hot weather Every 10 – 14 days Keep looking at plants to see whether you need to do this. |
Blue Activities
Medium intensity mainly involving upper body with some kneeling
| Activity | Outline | When/How Often |
| Take lavender cuttings | Choose non-flowered healthy shoots of this year’s growth. Pull away from the main stem with a thin strip of bark or heel attached. Take off lower pairs of leaves so the cutting has a length of bare stem that can easily be put into the compost. Dip the cut end of each cutting into rooting powder. Insert several cuttings round the edge of small pots of gritty compost. Water the compost well, then cover with clear plastic bag to maintain a humid atmosphere around the cuttings. Put the pots in warm, shaded place. After 4 – 6 weeks once rooting has started, cut the corner of the bag to increase ventilation. Remove the bag completely after a few weeks. Leave cuttings in place until well rooted then pot up individually. | From mid-summer onwards |
| Weeding | Weeds compete with cultivated plants for light, moisture and nutrients. When they are not doing this, especially if they have flowers which are good for pollinators it may be worth leaving them. Hoe beds when there is dry weather, so annual weeds (those which only grow for the year) dry out and die back. Move your hoe back and forward to cut the roots. Rake up and get rid of hoes weeds. Pull or for out large annual or perennial weeds. Try not to chop them up and this may multiply them. Work carefully through borders to find all weeds. Add annual weeds to the compost bin, but not perennial weeds. Cover bare soil with bark or other mulch to help prevent weeds returning. | Throughout summer months. |
| Cut back oriental poppies | Deadhead and cut back Oriental poppies after flowering and the foliage starts to turn yellow. Cutting right back to ground level stimulates the growth of fresh new leaves and maybe even some new flowers. | After flowering in late May/early June |
Plant French beans Blue/ Purple | Choose a warm, sunny site with well-drained soil. Weed the ground then fork in plenty of compost or rotted manure. Put up supporting canes – either a double row of bamboo or hazel poles tied at the top or wigwams. Plant small bean plants in May/June when all risk of frost has passed. Plant 1 or 2 at the base of each cane. Water regularly during dry weather, especially when they start to flower and form pods. Weed the bed to avoid competition for water. Spread a mulch of compost or rotted manure round the bean plants to keep moisture in. Tie in any shoots that come loose from the canes especially on windy sites. Pick the pods at 15-20 com long – theyre ready when they snap easily. Regular harvesting stimulates plants to produce more. | Plant out when all risk of frost has passed. |
| Harvest onions, shallots and garlic Blue/ Purple | For onions, gently loosen the soil round the bulbs with a fork before lifting. For garlic, dig down to loosen the soil round the bulbs. After harvesting, lay the bulbs and leaves in a warm dry place for a couple of weeks to dry. If the weather is damp, bring indoors to dry on racks. Once dried, trim the roots to about half an inch and leaves to 9 inches. Remove loose material. Store in a cool dark and well-ventilated place. Hang in nets or braids or pack in layers in boxes. | Harvest onions and garlic when foliage starts to yellow and fall over. Harvest shallots when their leaves flop over and start to die back. |
Purple Activities
These are higher intensity and may involve whole body activity such as digging.
| Activity | Outline | When/How Often |
| Plant perennials | You can buy young plants or bare root plants. Remove weeds and dig the area where you are going to plant. Dig a hole deep and wide enough for the roots to fit comfortably. Firm back the soil using your hand for small plants and your heel for larger ones. Water in well even if the ground is moist and rain is forecast. This settles the soil and prevents the plant from drying out. If planting container-grown plants, look at the roots. If they are circling the compost, tease them out by pushing your fingers into the rootball along the bottom edge and pull to rip the roots. Do this in 3 – 4 places to prevent the roots from growing round and round and to spread into the soil. Keep perennials well-watered, especially in the first year. Apply water under the foliage directed at the base of the plant. | June as is warmer, which can encourage faster root development |
| Prune June-flowering shrubs (e.g Weigela) | Remove dead, damaged or diseased branches, Remove flowered stems back to a strong healthy shoot or a bud which faces outward. | As soon as flowering is finished |
| Thin apple tree fruit | Remove any fruitlets that are damaged, diseased, misshapen or smaller than the rest of the cluster. Thin to create spacing between the remaining apples. Helps to improve the size, quality and flavour of remaining fruit as well as preventing branch breakage due to heavy fruit. | Late June/ early July, after the natural June drop |
| Mowing lawns | Never remove more than one-third of grass blade length to avoid damaging the grass. In hot weather raise the cutting height to help the grass retain moisture and protect the soil from drying out. Consider not cutting the lawn in May (No Mow May) which is beneficial to pollinators and other insects. | Weekly except in very dry weather |
| Turn compost | Turning compost mixes the materials and introduces air which is necessary for the microbes that break down the waste. Use a garden fork or similar tool to mix the compost. Add water or incorporate ‘green’ materials which are wetter and more nitrogen-rich e.g. grass clippings or vegetable scraps. If it’s excessively wet add ‘brown’ materials like shredded paper or cardboard to absorb moisture. | Every 1 – 2 weeks |
