City Gardener: The joys of summer

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Summertime is (or should be) when the hard work you’ve put in to create a beautiful garden really pays off

In many ways, summer is the best time for city gardeners to enjoy the work we’ve put in to building a great garden.

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The serious chores of spring are over, the garden (theoretically!) is healthy and growing well, and all that’s required is regular “puttering,” as my mum used to call it, to keep everything looking and growing its best.

Of course, few gardens are completely maintenance-free, even in mid-summer. At the very least, your focus is on keeping everything well-tended and tidy.

Deadhead any blooms that have finished by neatly clipping the stem just below the blossom; remove petals that have fallen on the soil below the plants, to discourage insects or mould.

Plants that have gotten leggy should be pruned or staked. (This is especially true of annuals like pansies or petunias.) And weed, weed, weed as you go.

Keep an eye out for pests like aphids or snails. Snails you can pick off and pitch into the distance, but aphids need a blast of Safer’s soap (or the homemade equivalent, a couple of tablespoons of dish soap in a spray bottle of water). The solution works on most other everyday garden pests like lily beetles as well.

By now, spring bulb foliage should be ready to tidy up. Pull gently on yellowed tulip stalks; they should come away easily (if they don’t, leave them another few days, then try again). Gather up withered daffodil and other strap-like leaves and throw them in the compost.

Add compost and repair holes in the mulch as needed. If you fertilize, follow the instructions on the package: some types require monthly applications, others biweekly or even weekly. I use a lot of compost, so I rarely need to feed my garden beyond that.

It’s important to keep an eye on water levels in the garden, especially when it starts to get hot. The rule of thumb is 25 mm (about an inch) of water per week, which is more than all but the heaviest rainstorms in one go.

I can tell you from experience that regular overhead lawn sprinklers (the kind that oscillate a fan of water back and forth) are not great for flowerbeds, since they waste a lot of water – a drawback when your water use is metered by the city – and also they tend to wet down the foliage of plants, which can lead to sunburn, mildew and rot.

The ideal, though I confess I’ve never tried it, is to install a surface-level irrigation system. If you’re very rich, you can hire professional installers to install them all though your garden, but there are more modest (and customizable) versions as well.

“Weeping” hoses perforated with tiny holes (another type uses multiple tiny sprayers attached to waterlines) are strung all through your flowerbeds, then attach to a single connector, which you can then connect to your garden hose. Systems like this can be purchased from Lee Valley or even Amazon.

But if, like me, you’re a bit more low-tech, I use a hand sprayer every couple of days, and for deeper watering, a small lawn sprayer with the old-fashioned name of “Dad’s Reliable.”

It sends out a circular spray that you can control with water pressure and by where you place it; about half an hour’s use gives me the 25 mm of water the garden needs, and it’s easy to move from place to place.

I always water in the early morning; that way, any water on the leaves drips off or evaporates before the sun gets really hot.

Other than that, sit back and take time to enjoy the fruits of your labours; it’s summertime, and the living (and the gardening) is easy.

Please feel free to write in with questions, to comment or to share your own city gardening adventures
with Martha. Write to her at marthasgarden07@gmail.com.