Late Summer Spruce Up

Annuals| Perennials| Summer Gardening

It happens to us all.  We plant our gardens and containers, and in June and (most) of July, the plants are gorgeous.  The weeds are plucked, the flowers are deadheaded, everything is blooming and green and AMAZING (OK, maybe all the weeds being plucked was a stretch, but you know what I am getting at.) But then, August rolls around and things start to look a little less glamorous. It was dry, then it was wet, and your plants took a hit. They are looking spindly, or tired, or just dead.  We get it. We’ve been there. And we are here to tell you, don’t give up on your summer garden and containers. There are a few things that you can do to prolong the life of your plants and spruce them up a bit until you can replace them with mums, pansies, ornamental kale, and little pumpkins to accent…wait, now you are daydreaming about your fall/winter garden.  Come back. We still have two (maybe three) months of summer!

Late Summer Garden To Do

Trim

  • Cut back or out the spindly, leggy parts of your plants. Cutting off these parts will allow the plants to use less energy trying to keep those parts alive.  So do the plant a favor and lighten its load.

Water, Water, Water

  • If you live here in Central NC, you may be thinking we received plenty of water last week, and we did.  But that was LAST week. When we aren’t getting rain regularly, you want to make sure you keep watering your plant, especially container plants.  Don’t forget when (if) temps rise and it dries out a lot, you can check out our post on watering in extreme heat.

Deadhead

  • Pinching or cutting off those spent flowers will allow your flowers to produce more blooms (not to mention, look much better).  Not sure how to deadhead? Check out the post we shared a few weeks ago. If you just skimmed it and forgot what you need to do, go back now. 

Replenish

  • We still have some annuals in stock that you can grab and add to your garden.  While the season is drawing to a close, most of the annuals we have in stock could bloom well into October…that is three months away!!  

Mulch

  • Assess the mulch situation in your garden.  If the mulch has depleted to less than two inches, you will want to replenish it.  Mulch helps retain moisture and protects shallow roots, so mulch it up!

Weed, Weed, Weed

  • We know how tedious weeding is.  But if you spend a dedicated amount of time getting the weeds out of your garden, it will thank you AND your garden will look so much better.  Crank up the tunes, weed away, and then reward yourself with a cool drink or treat after for being such an awesome gardener. We give you full permission. 😉

Fall and Spring Planning

Fall/Winter Garden Plan

Start planning for your fall/winter garden.  Take stock of what you have now. If you have perennials that you might forget what they are when they are done blooming, label them so you know what they are when it is time to divide them.  Make a plan for where you want to plant your pansies, mums and ornamental kale and cabbages. Then, when fall rolls around and we are fully stocked with fall plants, you can have first dibbs on all of our beautiful inventory since you were such a go-getter.  Imagine how accomplished you will feel!

Spring Garden Plan

Take a picture of this year’s garden and tape it in a notebook.  Label the annuals and perennials you had in your garden.  Reflect on what performed well and what didn’t.  Next spring, when last year’s garden is a distant memory, you will have your picture and notes as a reference to help you plan and decide whether you want to recreate what you had this year, make some changes, or start over completely.   

As always, we are here if you need any tips or suggestions on what to do in your garden right now, in the fall, or next year.  We hope to see you soon so we can help you #bringgreenhome.