7 ways to get your garden into summer mode

Johannes van Graan Johannes van Graan
Escritório Jardim, CP Paisagismo CP Paisagismo Modern Garden
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As the temperature continues to climb, more and more of us are looking to welcome back the warmer weather by sprucing up our living spaces. And that includes our exterior zones as well, especially those prone to festive socializing, like gardens and patios.

But luckily you don’t have to phone up a professional Gardener or Landscape Architect to help you with your garden’s summer 2020 look. Here are 7 easy DIY ways in which you can kick-start your garden’s fresh summer look (if you haven’t already)…  

1. Pull those weeds

Casa Owen, Terra Terra Modern Garden

Get rid of those unwanted growers before it gets warmer (and before they get a chance to grow any deeper), as they’ll come out much easier in cooler ground than hard, dry summer soil. 

2. Prune your summer-blooming flowering shrubs

This is prime time to be pruning shrubs that flower from late June through fall. Popular examples include abelia, butterfly bush, beautyberry, smooth hydrangea, and others.

What makes it easy is that these all bloom on wood that grows in the current season, meaning you won’t accidentally cut off a flower bud which formed the previous year. 

3. Get your beds fertilized

As the ground’s already been thawed out, you now have the perfect opportunity to apply granular fertilizer around your yard’s perennials, shrubs, and trees. We recommend that you match the particular product to the plant type, as well as any relevant nutrient needs provided by a soil test.

4. Mow your lawn

Nobody needs to be hassling you in winter about your overgrown lawn, but as soon as spring kicks in there are no more excuses. To help make your lawn extra fresh for 2020, try aerating it with a fork (this only needs to be done once a year once the winter frost has passed). Aerating will encourage your grass to grow, enhance their ability to take in much-needed nutrients, and improve the drainage. 

5. Inspect those trees and shrubs for any damage

That freezing winter can definitely leave its mark on your garden greens. Thus, make sure to rid your exterior spaces of all broken, dead, and storm-damaged branches.

Be sure to also snip off the tips of your evergreens that have suffered tip diebacks from the winter’s icy temperatures.

6. Edge those beds

Why do your garden beds need to be edged? Well, in addition to making your landscape look so much neater, edging also creates a “lip” for the mulch that can be applied as soon as the soil has been sufficiently warmed up for the new season.

It’s completely up to you whether you want to use a long-handled, people-powered edging tool or power edger for sharpening your garden beds’ edges. 

7. Spruce up your garden furnishings

Got a beautiful outdoor living space you’ve been dying to show off in the warmer seasons? Now is your perfect opportunity! But obviously your garden chairs (and tables, and benches, and and and… ) need to look as good as possible. So, if a little wooden bench or iron-wrought table has seen better days, resist the urge to just toss it. Instead, give it a good sand-down, prime and/or splash of paint / lick of varnish to help welcome it into summer 2020.

From outdoor style to interior inspiration, let’s see these 8 vital rules of living room furniture placement.

How much effort do you need to put in to make your garden fresh and fabulous for summer 2020?

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