Caring for the Summer Flower Garden

Here are some great tips to help keep your flower garden beautiful.

A rain gauge can help you keep track of when it's time to water the garden.

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Usually by mid summer your garden is in full bloom. Hopefully you've had enough sunshine and rain to keep your flowers in full bloom.

Typically, every garden needs an inch of water a week. Put out a rain gauge or put out an old tuna can. If Mother Nature is not supplying you with enough water, you're going to have to do it yourself.

Whether you use a irrigation system or a simple hose, applying water to the base of plants, not the foliage, helps keep down fungal diseases.

It's important not to water from above the plant. If you lose a lot of water to evaporation, you set plants up for possible problems down the road. You want to direct that water down to the soil surface to the root system. It's best to water your plants in the morning hours or do it in the late afternoon. You just don't want to do it in the late evening hours; that creates an environment that's ripe for fungal problems.

Everyone hates to weed, but in the hot summer sun, your garden really needs it. Weeds steal water and nutrients from surrounding plants. If you want to keep the weeds out, add a layer of mulch. If you spread a three- to four-inch layer, that's usually enough to block out the sunshine and keep the weeds from coming back. Plus, the mulch does a couple of things: It helps retain moisture so you don't have to water as much and it helps cool the soil. Once you put mulch down, I think you'll like it because it adds a decorative touch.

Another tip: To keep the garden cleaned up, use pruners. Perennials typically grow once a growing season, so go ahead and clean them up. Daylilies grow in clusters so wait until the entire cluster stops blooming before you cut the stem and enjoy the foliage.

With perennials like Monarda, don't worry about picking off blooms. Wait until they're all spent and go ahead and cut the stalk down. If you're concerned about bare spots don't be. Monarda will send up shoots of green.
When fertilizing your perennials, it's best to scratch in an all purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer once a month to encourage more blooms. Pick a fertilizer high in phosphorous with annuals like alyssum and pansies. Snip them down mid summer. You'll get a second burst of color through the fall.