Containers By The Season - Summer

Summer really is the time to enjoy containers at their best and it is also the time to enjoy the convenience that containers can bring to gardening.

Now the hard work of Spring pays off and suddenly it all seems to have been worth while. Happily, as with most aspects of gardening, it's not a time when you can sit back and put your feet up for their is still much you can do!

Water
A hot Summer is a time when plants need more and more water. A growing plant will find itself stopped in its tracks if the water supply dries up so we need to be vigilant.

It's no good waiting until the plant begins to wilt, check plants in dry weather and begin to water well before the tell-tale signs start to show.

Feed
In the early summer, plants are growing faster than at any other time so now is when to feed to get the plants really growing ready for the Summer flowering.

Tidy
You will probably have made some mistakes with your planting and have plants that are growing too tall or swamping a neighbour. Early Summer is the time to spot this and take action; well before the plants grow so much that action needs to be drastic.

Rearrange
Remember that one of the joys of container gardening is that you can pick up the containers and shuffle them around.

Good though this is, don't do it too much - plants, like us, prefer not to move house every day!

Veg
We will also cover edible container contents so now is also the time to pick edible crops for the table and this, of course, is one of the other joys of the container garden.

Enjoy
Those who know me will also know that I enjoy the chance to be in the garden and not necessarily to work in it. Take time out of your busy lives to just take a chair and sit out in the garden and watch your plants as they grow!

The year is drawing on now and the growing season is approaching a close. Our overview of containers will look next time at Autumn and then we begin the main topic of looking at containers projects.