There are many things that go into planning and planting a summer garden. Far too often would be gardeners do not consider the time and energy that should be spent maintaining the summer garden in order to keep your summer garden looking beauty and healthy throughout the long dog days of summer and well, in many cases, into the first frosts of fall. If prolonging the life and beauty of your summer garden is a priority then there are things that must be done in order to keep everything ship shape and in good working order.
Create a calendar of things to do in your garden for routine maintenance throughout the summer growing season and follow it is closely as time and the weather will allow.
Make sure this list allows for upsets such as a week of rain or a week of no rain as well as time to adjust for these inconsistencies and an inability to work in the garden when temperatures are well over the mark on the thermometer that reads uncomfortably hot. By having a list of things to do written down in a place where it can be seen it will weigh more heavily and be much more likely to be accomplished than if it were out of sight and out of mind.
Make sure you keep your garden weeded, watered, mulched, and fertilized according to the needs of specific plants within your garden. Check for leaves that are turning yellow and any pruning that needs to occur on a weekly basis. Remove the leaves and perform necessary cutting when needed and remove all weeds whenever the opportunity or need arises. If weeds are becoming a prevalent theme you may want to increase the amount of mulch being used in your gardening efforts.
Trim the areas of your lawn that need trimming in order to create a more uniform appearance between lawn and garden. You do not want to ignore the beauty of your garden because your lawn is looking shaggy and unkempt. Devote a little time to lawn care in order to keep your lawn and garden on a consistent scale with one another throughout the summer gardening season.
Make sure that you carefully study each plant that you have in your garden and are aware of any special needs that exist for one plant over another. If your plants that need shade or extra water are either receiving too much sunlight or not enough water you need to make efforts to add shade to them and get more water to them throughout the remaining months or you risk losing the investment of time and money you have already made in procuring and growing these plants.
Taking proper care of your garden during the summer months can make the fall harvesting process go a lot more smoothly while also helping prepare for the planning that will occur in the winter months ahead. Learn from the maintenance of your garden and plan the next garden with the needs you became aware of this season in mind. Always take time to learn from both your successes and your summer gardening failures for the best possible results. Learning to maintain your garden is the best way to determine whether or not you want to attempt a more or less ambitious garden in future growing seasons.