How to Get Your Garden Ready for the Summer

The British summer has already made an appearance in some places, thankfully, and with a bit of luck, longer streaks of good weather will be just around the corner. If you have been neglecting your gardening and garden decorating lately, now is the time to take some action to make sure that your garden will look its best and give you plenty of pleasant times this summer.

Buy some flowering plants

There’s nothing like flowers to make a garden look pretty. It’s not too late to plant some fast-growing summer flowers, such as calendula, which as well as looking pretty, has edible flowers you can use to add a splash of colour to your salads! For more information about using flowers and other garden products in your cooking, check out the excellent recipe book Petal, Leaf, Seed: Cooking With the Treasures of the Garden by Lia Leendertz.

Get yourself some garden furniture

What’s the point of having a luscious-looking garden if you haven’t got anywhere to sit and enjoy it? Sturdy, weatherproof outdoor furniture is a must if you want to spend the long summer days in your garden. You can mix and match tables, chairs and loungers from different collections if you want a more eclectic look, or buy entire outdoor furniture sets if coordination is more your style.

Install some bird feeders

The idea that birds don’t need feeding in the summer is a dangerous myth. Although there is more food naturally available to birds in the summer than in the winter, such as wild berries, many birds are busy raising their young in the summer and will need all the help they can get with gathering food in the current hostile ecosystem. Keep your bird feeders regularly topped up and add a water dish – birds get as thirsty as we do in the heat!

Feeding the birds is an act of ecological conservation, and it will also provide your garden with cheerful companions. Win-win!

Host a cuttings swap

Spring is a great time to divide your perennials, which will enhance their growth and keep them healthy. Why not invite your friends or neighbours round for a cuttings swap? This is an excellent way to get yourself some new plants at no expense – and, of course, it’s also a great excuse to have a good time!

If you want to impress your guests, use the products of your garden to make some botanical cocktails – and don’t forget to make ‘mocktail’ versions for anyone who doesn’t drink alcohol. These days, you can get alcohol-free versions of a lot of spirits, even gin, so it shouldn’t be hard to make the necessary substitutions.

Sow some salad leaves

Salad leaves are one of the fastest-growing crops, taking just six weeks from sowing to picking. Anytime from March to October is good for sowing salad leaves, and if you sow more seeds every couple of weeks, you will be able to harvest your salad continuously. Perfect for having a picnic in your newly spruced-up garden!