Flourish in the warmth of a summer garden!
February may be the last month of summer but it is often the hottest and most challenging for gardeners. Weather can be hot and dry with the threat of bushfire or drought, or wet and humid with the threat of floods. Whatever the weather, stay cool in the garden relaxing under a shady tree or vine-covered pergola.
To keep them looking good, provide regular water, fertiliser and maintenance to keep plants blooming and fruiting over the months ahead. Also, look out for plants that start flowering in late summer to extend summer colour well into autumn.
Coping with summer’s weather extremes
For many areas, summer has brought lots of wet weather. In these areas, soils may be waterlogged and fungal diseases may be affecting flowers, fruit and foliage. Prune away damaged growth and look at how to improve drainage in wet areas for example with raised garden beds.
In other parts of Australia, summer has been hot and dry. Where the weather is hot, cover new or tender plantings with shade cloth if there’s a heat wave forecast. Water the garden well the day before the heat arrives and again in the cool hours of the morning if time permits.
Take down hanging baskets and group pot plants together in a cool, shaded spot. Indoors, move plants away from windows, or draw window coverings. Water everything well. Regular applications of Seasol help boost plant resilience and can also help plants recover after heat damage.
Gardens offer a safe refuge for wildlife on hot days
On hot days, a garden offers a safe and slightly cooler refuge for birds and other wildlife to rest and rehydrate. Green corridors offered by gardens along with local parks and street plantings are important for food, water and shelter for wildlife and for protection in extreme weather.
Shady trees even small ones, shrubs, the lawn or leafy groundcover plants, help reduce temperature and give shelter from hot winds. Keep an accessible birdbath filled with clean water and positioned so birds can feel safe when they visit for a wash or a drink.
For smaller insects and lizards put a small bowl full of water under a bush so they have protection from predators and a cool space for refuge from the hot conditions.
Liquid feeding summer flowering plants
As summer flowering plants grow and produce blooms, it’s essential to keep them well-nourished, particularly if they’re in pots, as their roots can go in search of nutrients and moisture.
To support continued flowering, regularly deadhead spent blooms, allowing the plant to direct more energy towards producing new flowers. Prune your flowering plants for a vase display, especially with roses to open up the bush and allow air to circulate around it
Use a fast-acting liquid food such as PowerFeed PRO SERIES for Roses & Flowers regularly every two weeks during the cool of the day. Early morning to the soil is ideal as the plants are actively using the nutrients.
Plant Tip: Never feed your plants in the heat of the day especially to the foliage as it can burn it.
Dahlias
Dahlias fill gardens with colour but need a bit of planning ahead as they are planted in spring as tubers or lifted and divided if they are already growing in the garden. Luckily though there are always potted plants in flower to buy at this time of the year to dress up the garden.
One of the drawbacks of growing dahlias is that without staking (or some sort of support) they tend to flop about, especially when it is raining and the flowers and foliage are weighted down with water. To stop this, stake the plant when planting or use a plant support frame to keep it growing vertically.
To keep dahlias looking their best, regularly deadhead the spent flowers, feed with Seasol plus Nutrients Roses & Flowers throughout summer and water the plants well especially if the day looks like it is going to be hot. Despite their love of a warm, sunny spot dahlias do best with light afternoon shade in summer.
Five important jobs for late summer
- Keep watering to keep plants healthy when it’s hot. If water is pooling on the soil or potting mix, apply a soil wetter such as Seasol Super Soil Wetter & Conditioner to ensure it soaks down to the root system.
- Vegetables grow and ripen quickly in the heat. Pick cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and beans daily to enjoy them while they’re small and tender.
- After mowing, apply Seasol Lawn Care to boost lawn and soil health and help it cope with heat, drought and foot traffic.
- Seasol is your friend in the summer garden. It helps plants withstand tough times such as heatwaves and recover after extreme events. Regularly applying it every 2 weeks via a watering can or hose-on.
- Help yourself and your green space survive summer heat by limiting gardening tasks to small jobs in the cool of the day – early morning or late evening.
Vegetables to grow now
Keep the vegie garden productive by adding new plants now. To get started, pull up spent plants and weeds before rejuvenating tired soils by digging in homemade compost and organic manure and/or Seasol Super Compost.
Where digging is difficult use a liquid compost, no-dig formula such as Seasol Liquid Compost.
Allow the prepared soil to rest under a layer of organic mulch such as sugarcane mulch, pea straw or lucerne before planting seedlings for autumn harvests. This allows the soil to stay cool and moist.
Top choices for growing now include broccoli, brussels sprouts, beetroot, cabbage, kale and turnips or in shady areas repeat harvest lettuces.
Fruit fly protection for soft fruits
Fruit flies are abundant in late summer in many parts of Australia including areas where they’ve not been found before such as parts of South Australia and Victoria. Their population peaks in late summer just as tomatoes, capsicum and stone fruit begin to ripen. Protect fruit with fruit fly splash baits that attract female fruit flies away from ripening fruit. Other traps (Dak.pots) attract male fruit flies. It is also possible to cover fruit clusters with fine mesh bags to exclude fruit fly.
Tomatoes are particularly vulnerable to fruit fly attack. As tomatoes can ripen after they are picked, they can be picked when fully formed but under ripe, before they can be attacked by fruit fly. Harvest tomatoes when they are beginning to change colour from green to pink cutting the fruit from the plant with green stem attached. Keep fruit on the kitchen bench or in a fruit bowl to ripen indoors. Cherry tomatoes are also usually overlooked by fruit fly and are a good choice where fruit fly protection is difficult or too time consuming.
