Tag: seasonal jobs
Early Summer Tasks
The most important thing is to enjoy the garden during the summer. For a few months everything is madly flourishing, and the best way to keep the garden looking good is to make sure you do 4 things: keep weeds under control, water young plants with short roots the moment they start to flag, mow the grass but never too severely, and look out for pests in the greenhouse, attacking any with biological controls.
Early summer is usually a busy time of year. The weather can be very variable, ranging from sudden late frosts, when you have to run out and cover tender plants, to the hottest day for nine months, when everything in the greenhouse bakes.
Plant Summer Flowers!
If you have a thumb that seems to only want to turn green in June, July, and August, then you may think that the sweltering heat of a summer dooms you to a bloomless yard or patio. Well, throw on your shorts, liberally apply your sunscreen, don your wide-brimmed hat, and grab a spade, because here are some flowers that you should have in your garden right now.
Sunflowers
Their appearance isn’t the only reason they are called sunflowers. Many varieties of sunflower need long hours of full sun and warm temperatures to do well. One popular variety is the fast-growing Mexican sunflower, which grows to six feet tall. Other varieties can grow up to nine feet.
Garden Tasks In Early Spring
Spring is one of the most enjoyable times in the garden. In cold regions the weather can still be icy in early spring, but in mild climates you can make a start on many outdoor jobs. If sowing or planting outdoors, bear in mind that soil temperature as well as air temperature is important.
Beds and borders. One of the biggest bugbears of gardening is the amount of time spent watering over summer. The best way to avoid this is to wait until after a few days of heavy spring rain, when the soil is deeply saturated, and then spread a thick layer of mulch such as mushroom compost over the soil. This locks in the moisture now, and after subsequent waterings. It also keeps down weeds and helps condition the soil.
Protect Your Plants From The Cold
Depending on your climate zone now it’s time to get your garden ready for winter. However, it is a general fact that growing plants during frosty winter season can prove to be a challenge, even for some of the more experienced gardeners. If you have the space for it in your backyard and you enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of tin plants, then chances are you already have a gorgeous flower garden. Or, perhaps growing flowers in your garden is part of your idea of creating a stunning landscape.
Maybe you decided to change your lifestyle and eat healthier, a feat that cannot be truly achieved unless you grow your own vegetable garden. Who knows, it could be that gardening is your newly discovered hobby that you can’t get enough off. Irrespective of the reasons why you decided to have a flower or vegetable garden, it is important to protect the plants from the low temperatures, frost and snow this winter.
Creating A Beautiful Winter Garden
Winter gardens can be extraordinarily beautiful. They may lack colorful beds and borders, but they often have a subtler, more satisfying attraction. There is, of course, no lack of color if you look closely. Many trees and shrubs bear vivid red, yellow or orange berries, and there are plenty of bulbs that flower in depths of winter.
Evergreen plants and conifers provide form and texture in every shade of green. It is in winter, however, that the underlying structure of the garden can be appreciated. Unclothed pergolas and trellises can be admired, while ornaments, such as terracotta urns and stone sundials, can be enjoyed for themselves.
Gardening Jobs In The Late Fall
A last-minute spurt of action is often needed at this time of year, to get the garden ready for winter and ensure protection for plants that need it. In many areas the cold will already have taken its grip, but in warmer climates there are still mild days to be enjoyed.
Besides tackling the many jobs described here, the fall is also a good time of year to think of redesigning the garden. While most plants are dormant you can put up pergolas and arches, build walls, design new beds, lay paths (avoiding areas where they will get covered by leaves which become mushy and slippery in wet weather) and dig ponds. It is better that new ponds are left to be filled by rainwater over winter, thus avoiding the chemicals in tap water, which can lead to the growth of quick-spreading algae.
