Summer is bursting out the gates, with temperatures soaring over the past few weeks for a lot of us, and there are fewer better places to cool down and relax than in your own garden. If you’re looking to ready your garden for the new season, there is work to be done. Aside from all of the traditional tidying up, however, you might want to look closer at some of the issues that are affecting your garden. If any of these sound familiar, then you want to take action to deal with them now. As summer goes on and the garden keeps growing, they can become only more troublesome.
A whole lot of weeds
You might be looking out at your garden with a touch of despair that your weed problem has gotten so bad. There is no garden that doesn’t have to deal with weeds, except for those that are entirely artificial. They’re going to be consistently growing throughout the season, so you want to use a mulch to stifle their growth where you can. Otherwise, if they’re growing in your lawn, you should look at using natural weedkillers, consider using boiling water to scald them, or just pluck them up as soon as you can. You have to get used to the idea of weeding your garden, however. It’s not a problem that’s going to simply go away, you just have to manage it.
Dry or wet soil
If you’re trying to plant something new, then you need to make sure that the soil is in good condition. The problem that is, by far, the most common is a moisture imbalance. If your soil is too dry, then that is relatively easy to fix: you just need to water it more often. If it’s too wet, however, seeds can drown and rot. If your soil retains a lot of moisture, then you might want to look into installing a drainage system that drains excess water out of the soil and dumps it into your sewage system. You want to water any seeds that you plant and keep the soil moist, but it shouldn’t be waterlogged.
A mossy lawn
Moss can grow anywhere, and if there is moss in your area, then it’s likely to spread to your lawn at some point. When it happens, this can be extremely frustrating as it can prevent grass from growing through and your lawn can become unsightly and spongy. Cutting out the sources of mossy lawns, such as weak grass or compacted soil, can help. If you have a mossy lawn, then the first thing you want to do is kill it using moss killer, be it natural or bought. Use a scarifier on the ground beneath it, breaking it up and lifting the moss right out, then remove as much of the moss as you can, since it should be lifted. After that, you want to aerate the soil by dragging a garden fork through it in neat lines. After that, you can plant your grass seed and help get your lawn back to good as new. Again, you’re not likely to get every single bit of moss this way, so good care of your lawn in the follow-up is key.
A dead tree
It’s always sad when a tree dies. You can watch it happen, bit by bit, as green turns to brown and it becomes dull and lifeless, gradually. A lot of people won’t deal with it until it is fully dead out of some hope that it might spring back to life, but it rarely happens. If you have a dead tree, then you should arrange for tree removal as soon as you can. Dead trees are not just a sad sight, but they can be a safety hazard due to falling branches and the risk that they might fall over. They can also be a home for pests, and may even spread disease throughout your garden if left up.
A browning lawn
When the heat really turns up, the sad fact is that you should expect your lawn to start browning. This does not mean that your grass is dead, however. It’s going to turn green again when it starts to rain. If you’re dealing with days of drought, then water is a good idea, but don’t flood your grass because you see brown patches. Let your grass grow a little and raise the height of your lawn mower so that it’s better able to sustain itself during those dryer and hotter patches.
The insect horde
You don’t need a dead tree in your garden for there to be insects. Dealing with pests can be a tricky problem, as there are some insects and wildlife that can be very beneficial to your garden or the environment in general and you don’t want to cause undue harm because there are also pests. Pesticide is an effective, but often overzealous way to deal with pests. What a lot of people have started doing is to grow companion plants that are known to attract creatures, such as ladybirds and wasps that eat aphids, or birds that eat all manner of insects. You don’t always need to stop to take care of insects when you see them, either. If the plant is weak or struggling plants, they need more active defense, but robust, growing, and well-watered plants can take a bug attack or two.
A hot greenhouse
Your greenhouse is designed to help you grow plants that might normally require environments with more heat than you usually get. They’re designed to be hotter than the rest of the garden, but they can still become way too hot in the summer. If you haven’t done it yet, then now is the time to install the right ventilation in your greenhouse to ensure the right kind of airflow, and consider buying blinds that you can close when the sun is getting too strong. Regardless of what kind of heat your greenhouse plants need, you want to make sure that it doesn’t get too hot for anything to grow in there.
Discoloration of your leaves
If your plants aren’t looking healthy and don’t have their natural color, then it’s important to identify the problem more closely so you can choose the right solution. Black spot is a fungal issue that can affect a range of plants but hits roses most commonly, and it is better prevented by choosing disease-resistant strains of roses and grieving them sunshine and circulation. Powdery mildew affects a wider range of plants. Just like black spot, it can’t be cured, but you can stop its spread by cutting off affected leaves and spraying fungicide over the rest of the plant. If your plant is yellowing or losing its green, then it likely just needs a bit more water.
The pond turning green
If you have a pond or any other still water features, then they can have their share of problems as well. You don’t need the cleanest water in the world, but you want to stop it from looking like split pea soup. To that end, you should ensure that you have submerged plants are doing their part to oxygenate the water, while water lilies and other surface plants can provide shade and absorb the nutrients from the water. If you can see a blanket weed growing in there, then the best way to deal with it is to simply get a garden cane and pull it out.
Not enough sunlight
Another common cause of discoloration that can affect your plants, especially if they are growing slowly, is a lack of sunlight that they need. The best way to deal with this is to make sure that you plant your sprouts where they are likely to get six to eight hours of sunlight per day and to make sure that they are not overly crowded. There are ways to enhance the amount of sunlight that your plants get, too. You can make sure that there are reflective colors and surfaces around them, such as mirrors or even water reflections, to help reflect light into them.
Algae and grease
During the summer, leading into fall, there is going to be more biological matter in the area, since everything is growing and things like spores, leaves, and other plant matter are going to be spread around the garden. If you have any flat and smooth surfaces, such as paving stones or walkways, these can become covered in a film of algae and bio-matter that can make them not only unsightly but slippery and a potential danger to anyone who visits your garden. The single best way to deal with these is to rent a power washer and blast it off. This is going to be specially important after it rains.
You want to make sure that your garden is in good condition, so be mindful of the issues mentioned above, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
*contributed post*
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