Gardening jobs for summer
Now that summer is here, it’s time to head into the garden and Kim Syrus has listed all the jobs to get done to ensure you are happily entertaining outdoors until the sun goes down.
Hedge help
If you want a bit more backyard privacy, now’s the time to give your hedging plants a little attention, so sharpen up the shears or pop in a charged battery into your hedger. Regular trimming not only helps keep plants well-shaped, it encourages copious amounts of new growth that fill and create a thick screen. Cutting occasionally, often means chopping into woody growth that takes longer to shoot and leaves your hedge looking very patchy and open. Apart from a more regular trim, a good, deep soak of water every week and a handful of organic fertiliser a few times a year will ensure your privacy is secure.
Pick a tree
As the sun starts baking your yard, now is a top time to work out a good spot that needs a new tree for shade and cooling. The first choice is whether to go evergreen or deciduous: staying in full leaf year-round avoids that bare winter look, however letting winter sun into house windows also has its benefits. If you have existing lawn, place a tree where turf will still get at least half a day (preferably more) of direct sun to make sure that once the tree’s canopy grows your lawn doesn’t become sun-deprived and patchy. Drop by your local garden centre to find out more about which trees best suit your area.
Invasive roots
Thirsty tree and shrub roots are making a beeline towards any irrigated garden beds right now. The challenge is to stop these roots from sucking the goodness away from your precious plants. As most of these incoming roots will be nearer the surface, grab a spade and push it into the soil cutting through the invading roots, do this in a line between the trees or shrubs and your garden bed. While only temporary, it will help short term plants such as annuals and vegetables to complete their growing cycle without unwanted competition.
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Riverland visitors
Holiday-makers heading to the Riverland are reminded to leave their fruit and veggies at home. As a declared Pest Free Area, it is illegal to bring fresh produce into the region due to the chance it could harbour fruit fly. If you do, stop and eat them, or drop any fruit or veggies into the well-signed quarantine bins on the roads into the Riverland. There is plenty of fresh produce to enjoy when you get there. With fruit fly outbreaks already being managed, this economically important region doesn’t need more happening. To find out more, head to the PIRSA Fruit Fly website.
fruitfly.sa.gov.au
Summer roses
You can enjoy a bounty of beautiful rose blooms over summer with some trimming, a little feed, and the right water. Start by cutting off old or finished blooms, it doesn’t matter if you snap off or trim a little way down the stem, removal helps the rose re-set its energy into producing new growth and flowers. A December, then February feed, using a dedicated rose fertiliser, will supply plenty of essential nutrient. Weekly deep soaks for established bushes and more frequent watering on new or container plants will turn your roses into flower factories.
Worm care
Looking to keep your worm farm super productive over summer? Firstly, keep it shaded, because full sun on a 40C day can wreak havoc and kill off the entire population. Cover the container with a wet cloth on severe heat days. Paint or use a light-coloured farm for even better cooling. Also, chop scraps into smaller pieces because warm weather makes worms hungry, devouring these morsels and turning them into garden gold in no time.
Weed hitchhikers
Warm weather is the trigger not only for actively growing lawns, but weeds. Apart from hand digging and spraying, your lawnmower also plays an important part in reducing weed numbers. As weed seeds can easily hitch a ride and be transferred across the yard, give your mower a wash down after each cut. If you have back, front and verge grass, then best to start in the backyard, followed by the front, and finally the verge. This is because your verge is more likely to be the weediest, so cutting your areas in the reverse order, would only bring weeds into your backyard – not what you want.
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Welcome water
Plants are not the only thing in your garden desperate for a drink on a hot day. There are a myriad animals, birds, reptiles and insects grateful for a cool drop of water. Lay shallow bowls in shaded spots and fill. Place one so you can spy it through a window, you’ll find these garden oases a fascinating way to discover what lives in your yard, whether it be a snail-munching blue tongue lizard, a colourful Adelaide parrot, larking magpie or adventurous echidna. Remember to refill as needed and drop a few rocks into each container providing bees a safe spot to land and drink.
Higher humidity
Indoor plants love it inside (of course), however summer air conditioning will drop both temperature and humidity which can affect plant performance. Given many indoor plants herald from humid rainforests, filling a hand sprayer and giving leaves a mist will help raise moisture levels and prevent drying out. Placing bowls of water nearby, as well as grouping plants, also helps improve humidity. Watch out for vents blasting out icy air, so to avoid any shock, move plants out of these streams and into more calm and ambient spaces.
Summer protection
Produce-filled veggie patches need a little help right now. Protecting emerging and ripening fruit from the scorching summer sun is a high priority. Maintaining regular watering and feeding helps plants sustain a thick leaf canopy that shades and protects, as nature intended. But the combination of heatwaves and an increasingly heated suburban environment creates issues. To help combat both, adding a 30 per cent white shade cloth cover will do wonders for plants and produce.
Horticultural oil
New growth is a magnet for hungry pests, especially in the veggie garden. Organic options for pest-prevention are always the best and horticultural oils are brilliant at keeping sap-sucking and nibbling insect populations down. Be careful not to confuse White Oil and horticultural oil. Viscous White Oil is perfect in winter on newly pruned roses and fruit trees, however each droplet can act like a magnifying glass on leaves burning holes in them on sunny days. Refined horticultural oils like Eco Oil and Pest Oil are ideal to use on days up to 27C, which means you can safely spray plants without summer damage.
pH tes
Do you have alkaline, acidic or neutral soil? Soil pH is a major influence on how plants perform and finding out what type you have is easy with soil pH test kits that are available at your local garden centre or hardware store. Take a small soil sample, place on the supplied plastic plate, add a few drops of indicator dye, coat with the Barium Sulphide power and wait for a colour change. Match the colour with the pH chart in the kit to give your soil pH. Scaled from 1 to 14, lower acidic and alkaline higher, the pH garden sweet spot is around 7.
This article first appeared in the 2023 Summer edition of SALIFE Gardens and Outdoor Living magazine.
