Top tips for easy garden care this summer

We work hard at our gardens all year round; pruning, striming, cleaning, tidying and washing from autumn through to spring. All with the hope that we might get some use out of our garden in those illustrious summer months. There is always hope that you can lie back and relax with a nice Pimm's on a hot summer’s day enjoying the fruits of your labour. However, the reality of being out in your garden in summer can be somewhat different from your expectations. Sadly, the reason for this is normally caused by the temperamental Scottish weather. Snippets of sunshine followed by splashing of rain normally mean you will have lots of weeds, moss and an out of control lawn to deal with, plus your perfectly formed flowers have all but weathered and died.

Instead of enjoying your garden, you will most likely find that you spend your sunny afternoons trying to stay on top of your garden maintenance instead of relaxing with that long overdue Pimm's.

Now it would be silly of me not to recommend that you find yourself a quality gardener (hint hint), someone that has the skills knowledge and the expertise to maintain your lovely garden for you. If you decide that hiring a gardener is the best solution for your gardening needs, then you know the team at J.R. Evans are available for you. However, if you plan to stay self-sufficient and in control of your own garden maintenance then here are my top 3 summer gardening tips to help you along.

1. Plant care.

The easiest way to keep your flowers flourishing for longer is to ensure they get regular feeds with fresh water. Simple eh? Morning time is best, before it gets too hot. Morning feeds will allow your plants to get the most from their feed.

The trouble is we often forget when we are busy and rushing out the door to work or elsewhere. The key is to get yourself into a routine, my suggestion is to keep your watering can somewhere visible that you will see in the morning. By your front door or by your car normally works as a visual aid.

2. Lawn care.

If the Scottish weather is as unpredictable this year as it normally is, you will most likely see a rapid growth of your grass in the spring and summer months. It's normally recommended that you cut your grass weekly, however, considering that we don't normally see a huge amount of sunshine here twice weekly is normally sufficient. The trick to keeping your lawn looking lush is to ensure that you don't cut your grass too short. Weak and short grass can actually encourage weeds and moss to grow; try to keep your grass at around 1cm long.

Give your grass a good soak and feed once a week in dry weather and avoid watering your grass daily with small amounts of water as it can actually cause the grass to dry out.

3. Weeds.

The summer months aren't the best time to pick out your weeds. They are growing vigorously and it's unlikely that you will be able to stay on top of them. There are a couple of non-chemical options to weed killing that we would normally recommend but they do require a considerable amount of time and effort. For a quick fix in the summer a quality weed killer is your only real option to keep your weeds at bay. One application is normally sufficient, however on particularly bad patches you might require two or three rounds. Avoid using weed killer on new lawns as this could lead to long-term damage.

To avoid reoccurrence, ensure that any weeds trimmed when cutting with grass are removed but not composted to avoid contamination of the compost. If you want to dig out your weeds, it’s recommend that you do so in the autumn months when the weather and the weeds become more subdued.

And if you think all the above will use up too much of your precious time and effort then you can always ask the team and J.R. Evans for a helping hand. We can assist with one-off jobs or long-term garden maintenance projects. Take a look at our website for some pictures of our recent work.

Until next time

J.R. Evans.