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Summer Garden Checklist By Melissa J Wantuck  |
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 While you’re enjoying your garden this summer, don’t forget to take some time to care and maintain your plants. Check out our summer checklist for some basic garden maintenance during the height of the growing season.
Deadheading
As flowers fade, cut them off and compost them. Use scissors or small pruning shears to avoid tearing the plant stems and leaving them vulnerable to pests and disease.
Watch out for sickly buds and remove those as well, but don’t compost them to avoid further spread of disease.
Some plants can be cut back after they’ve bloomed and may re-bloom later, such as Monarda and Delphinium.
Pinching Back
Pinch back the stems of fall plants like asters and mums. Pinching back encourages more shoots and more shoots will offer more blooms.
Weeding
Weeding is a task that carries through all parts of the gardening season so it’s no different during the summer. Some tips for weed control are to weed when the ground is wet. Removing all parts of the weed will be easier to pull through the softer soil.
Work to keep weeds cleared out your lawn that borders your flowerbeds. Ignoring those weeds leaves a breeding ground that will disperse their seeds into your beds when the wind is right.
Pest Control
Monitor your plants for signs of pests. Brown spots, trails and holes in leaves are some of the signs. Some pest traps, like those for Japanese Beetles are helpful, but in particular with Japanese Beetle traps, place them away from your gardens as sometimes they attract more pests.
An alternative to Japanese Beetle traps is to plant larkspur or geraniums in your beds. Japanese Beetles are repelled by the smell of these plants.
There are any number of commercials pesticides and sprays you can buy to eliminate and reduce the number of pests in your garden. If you are looking for organic pesticides, some natural ones are simply predators of the bad insects like ladybugs, ground beetles, spiders and birds. Encourage the good insects and put out food to attract birds.
For plants that have large holes in their leaves, use a diluted solution of soapy water and spray affected leaves to rid them of beetles and caterpillars. For slugs and snails, handpick them off leaves at night then set up a beer trap around the plants to catch and repel future threats.
Plant Supports
For taller plants that you don’t start supporting in the spring, add supports now. For minimally invasive supports, use stout twigs or branches, bamboo shoots or #9 galvanized wire. These are examples of supports that will blend in with the plant and won’t take away from the look of the plant and its blooms.
If you use decorative plant supports, keep the number you use to a minimum to again avoid taking away from the natural aspect of your garden. A couple or few decorative plant supports lend a whimsical aspect to any garden but too many is overpowering.
Future Plant Planning
As your spring and summer bulbs fade, dig up any bulbs you want to move or divide up where some of them have multiplied. Store them in a dark, cool place until the fall.
Take pictures or mark the location of bulbs still in your beds and start making lists of bulbs you want to order. Garden centers will be getting bulbs in by the end of the summer for fall planting so plan what you want and get your order in before the center’s deadline.
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