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IMPOR-
T A N T
SUMMER
GARDEN
CARE
By
Clodagh
and Dick
H a n d -
scombe,
practical
gardeners and authors living in Spain for
twenty five years.
Spanish summers are hot and gardens
need some extra care to ensure that they
are colourful and survive the scorching
southerly winds. This article indicates what
needs to be done.
Keeping Plants Alive
Keeping plants alive consists of four things:
1. Keeping the roots of plants constantly
damp both in the garden
and containers. Whether you water
with a drip irrigation system,
hose or watering can, this can be
difficult to judge unless you dig a
hole to check what layers are dry
and at what level the soil is still
moist. The latter is time consuming,
difficult to do in closely planted
beds and judgemental as what one
person regards as damp another
person may regard as wet and it’s
a hard lesson to learn when your
favourite plants keel over and die.
The solution is to purchase a soil
moisture meter. Typically they have
a probe to push into the earth in a
garden bed or the compost in a pot
down to 15 centimetres of depth
and do not need a battery to operate
them. The best have a second
probe that measures the acidity of
Page 26
the soil or compost. Ours also has a
light meter which is useful in checking
the amount of light reaching to
the back of a naya or the shade of
a tree where you are considering
placing pot plants.
2. Placing tender plants that are easily
shrivelled in full sun or by blazing
hot winds in semi, dappled or
full shade and watering twice a day
if necessary. This includes annual
herbs such as parsley or basil.
3. Keeping roots cool by shading them
with slabs of rock or mulches of
compost or bark chippings.
4. Ensuring that you plant up your
garden with plants that are naturally
drought resistant and capable
of slowing down their growth and
moisture requirements during the
hottest weeks.
Cacti and succulents are among the most
draught resistant plants, but there are
many others as indicated in Part Four of
‘Your Garden in Spain – From Planning
to Planting’ (ISBN 978-84-89954-670
Keeping the Garden Colourful
Stimulating prolonged or repeat flowerings
consists of watering as above, plus regular
dead heading as soon as flowers start to
dry up, to prevent the plants from using
energy to produce seeds rather than new
flower buds.
Stimulating plants to flower continuously
or again requires that you dead head as
soon as flowers have finished to prevent
seeds being formed, watering as above
and minimising the use of feeds high in nitrogen.
Most plants will grow and flower
well without regular feeding, but should
you consider it necessary use a feed high
in potash rather than nitrogen. Regular
feeding with the latter may result in excessive
greenery at the expense of flowers.
Fruit Trees Also Need Care
It is essential that fruit trees are watered
thoroughly so that their deepest roots are
kept constantly damp enabling the fruit
to develop continuously. Intermittent watering
can result in splitting fruit, major
fruit falls or insect and fungal attacks. If
you planted your fruit trees in previously
enriched soil and gave the trees a spring
feed, a summer feed is not essential.
The Vegetable Plot can still be Productive
Provided they are frequently watered, fruit
vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers,
squash and melons swell and ripen well
in sunny weather. Root vegetables such
as peanuts, carrots and beetroot will grow
and keep well in the soil if kept damp, but
quick growing radishes will soon go to seed
if not harvested when young. As the summer
warms up flowering artichokes will
stop producing and July is a good time to
sow seeds to produce broccoli plants for
planting out in the autumn, however, leaf
vegetables are best shaded for at least
part of the day to keep them growing without
going to seed. Weeds will be less of a
problem than in the spring, but will need
keeping under control by hoeing and adding
to the compost heap. It’s a good idea
to dampen the compost heap each month
to prevent it from drying out.
The above actions should help you enjoy a
colourful and productive summer garden,
but do watch the garden for unexpected
problems. Before the summer, read chapter
6.16 ‘Be a plant detective’ in our
book ‘Your Garden in Spain’ which lists
fifty ways of killing plants- many of them
related to summer conditions.
Clodagh and Dick at Homes Garden
and Outdoor Living Show
On Monday/Tuesday 22 and 23 May Dick
and Clodagh Handscombe, Spain’s best
known expatriate gardening authors, will
be giving talks and answering any questions
you have on the Gardening in Spain
on stand No 43 at the Homes Garden and
Outdoor Living Show open from 11am
until 8pm at the Castle at San Miquel de
Salinas just south of Torrevieja.
Three talks
will be given
each day;
at 12.30
and 16.30
they will
talk about
‘Achieving
a Good
Garden in
Spain’. The
third talk will
be at 15.30
each day
and will be
about ‘Living
Well from Your Garden.’ Between
and after the talks Clodagh and Dick will
answer your gardening questions and have
autographed books available.
The show will have many interesting stalls
and several places to eat and drink, so why
not put in your diary for a day out. More
information about the show will be found
on www.homesandgardens.es
© Clodagh and Dick Handscombe May
2012
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