Looking for some landscaping tips for Summer? Then you’re in the right place.
Summer is almost upon us in Australia, meaning our days are becoming longer, hotter and drier. And while living on the driest continent on earth may be perfect for outdoor barbeques with family and friends or pool parties to fend off the heat, our gardens often tend to struggle in such harsh conditions.
If you want your garden to stay green and luscious, here are a few landscaping tips for Summer.
Opt for Natives
Unlike introduced plant species, Australian natives have evolved to be able to thrive in our uniquely harsh climate. Not only are they able to withstand drought, they are able to tolerate Australian soil, which is infamously low in nutrients. Furthermore, because they’re used to the Australian environment, they are often very low maintenance and require very little watering, mulching or fertilising. If you’re a lazy gardener, Australian natives are the perfect option for you this summer.
Keep Your Garden Hydrated
Even the most water resilient plants, like cacti and eucalyptus, need at least a small amount of water to survive and thrive. If you live in a drought-prone area that introduces water restrictions in the summer, it might be a good idea to invest in a water tank to ensure that all your gardening efforts don’t go to waste.
Timers are also a cheap and easy way of ensuring that your garden stay hydrated. With a timer you don’t have to worry about forgetting to water your garden and you can also program them to turn on early in the morning when it’s prime watering time.
Drip irrigation systems are also a great way of delivering the perfect amount of water to your plants without wasting any precious water.
Since your lawn ties your whole garden together, keeping it lush and green is essential to maintaining your garden’s aesthetic this summer. To do this, your lawn requires 3 to 5cm of water each week, watering two to three times a week rather than every day. In general, watering your garden for longer periods of time less often encourages deeper roots, which in turn helps drought tolerance and decreases the need for maintenance.
Trim, Trim, Trim
In summer it’s important to prune back your bushes, shrubs and trees. This is because the lower limbs of these plants are water hogs, meaning they suck up all the water you’re feeding them and leave nothing less for their upper halves, leading to unattractive and scraggly upper halves. Trimming your plants now will help ensure they survive this summer and into next winter.
Pruning in summer is also effective for corrective purposes as it is much easier to detect and trim limbs which are defective or hang down too far under the weight of leaves.
Plan Your Shading
As much as plants need the sun to thrive, they can definitely have too much of a good thing. Some plants aren’t able to handle direct sunlight for very long, which is why it’s important incorporate shady areas into your landscape design and know which of your plants can tolerate the sun and which can’t. Ferns, for example, will easily burn and wither in direct sunlight, which is why they are better suited to a covered verandah or placed beneath a shade cloth.
It might be worthwhile to spend a day observing the shade patterns of your garden and figure out which parts of your garden spend the most time in the sun and in the shade so that you can plan accordingly
Weed Regularly
Weeds are the bane of every gardener’s existence and that doesn’t change during summer. One way you can use summer to your advantage is depriving the weeds in your garden of water and letting the hot sun kill your garden’s weeds and prevent them from germinating. Covering weeds with mulch is a great way of depriving them of water while allowing the rest of your garden to thrive.
Need Help?
If you need help achieving a lush, green garden this summer, Everlast Services are more than happy to provide expert advice and give your backyard some of the R&R it requires. If you’d like to give your outdoor area a complete makeover to prepare it for summer, we can do all the work for you so that that you don’t have to endure gardening in the sweltering sun. Give us a call today and we can provide you with a free measure and quote.
Contact Everlast Services Today
- Call us on 03 9369 2066
- Email us at sales@everlastservices.com.au
- Complete our quick and easy quote request form
- Visit our showroom at 443 Old Geelong Road, Hoppers Crossing. We’re open:
- Monday to Friday: 8:30am – 5:00pm
- Saturday: 9:00am – 1:00pm
- Sunday: Closed
