As the sun’s scorching heat blazes across your garden landscape it can evaporate any moisture that your precious plants are trying to hold onto, burn the tips of leaves, and leave them hanging desert dry!
However, instead of withdrawing back to the air-conditioned indoors, you need to rise to the challenge and save your plants before it is too late. Summer can be an enjoyable season for you, and your plants if you are willing to put in the effort. Wipe those beads of sweat off your forehead, and get to work!
Here’s how you can beat the summer heat by creating a cool summer garden:
Water Features
One of your critical concerns for your garden should be making sure that your plants are always hydrated enough. As the temperature peaks, the heat can be unforgiving in drying out your plants quicker than usual. You will have to start watering your plants twice a day. Keep checking the soil texture, and you will know if it is time to water them again if the soil is dry and crumbly.
Another way to keep your garden cool is to install a water feature such as a pool! However, this wouldn’t be the best interest of all gardeners, so you can always go for a pond, fountain, or even a landscape misting system. Water features help your garden transform into a cool and relaxing place to enjoy on a hot summer day.
The sound of moving water splashing, squirting, and gurgling can have a positive impact by countering your body’s aggressive reaction to the heat by appealing to your ears, and your mind with relaxing sounds. This sound therapy can help your garden feel more refreshing during the hot summer season, as you lay by the pool to enjoy your favorite fruits:)
Why should I install a water feature?
Installing a water feature is a good idea for you and the wildlife around you. A water feature plays a huge role in creating an open ecosystem for plants, animals, and insects. You can choose to introduce fish and aquatic plants to your pond to make full use of your water feature.
The increased flora and fauna density in your garden can cool the environment by naturally balancing the moisture levels in their habitat. You will not have to worry too much about maintenance either, as water features are easy to clean. You will only have to make sure that algae do not build up and cause blockages in your pond. Even so, most people will find cleaning their water feature to be a fun activity and less of a chore!
Concrete Planters
Part of creating a serene garden in summer is making sure that your potted plants remain cool too! The choice of material that you use as containers for your plants can have an extraordinary impact on keeping them fresh.
Remember that not all planter materials are equal when it comes to keeping your garden cool, especially if you live in a part of the world where it can get sweltering in summer. This consideration does not mean that you should forget about the regular factors to take into account such as planter size, color, room for growth, and adequate drainage. It just means that you need to include the material of the planter and how it affects the temperature of your plants!
Concrete planters are thick, dense and compact because the solid particles are close to each other. Concrete is much better than other planter materials such as clay or plastic in keeping your plants cool during summer.
They minimize temperature fluctuations and are cool to touch even during summer. This property helps maintain a temperature difference between the environment outside the pot and the plant contents within it. You won’t have to worry about replacing concrete planters, because they are incredibly durable. These planters can last years without getting brittle or rotting away like plastic or clay!
To help reinforce cool concrete planters for the summer, you can use color theory and paint them a light color to reflect heat. While natural concrete already has a light-gray shade, you can tone it down even more for maximum effect. Dark surfaces absorb the sun’s rays and increase internal temperature.
Fortunately, concrete planters can help you avoid that! Just remember to keep your concrete planter in the shade, because they are generally heavy and, therefore, challenging to move around frequently. However, there are light weight concrete planters on the market, so that may be an alternative option.
Keep your plant’s exposure to sunlight in check
The sun’s intense rays are the core reason why summers are so hot for your garden plants. While it doesn’t take a scientist to figure that out, you need to remember this important fact to create a cool summer garden.
You can manage your garden’s exposure to sunlight through the strategic management of plant placement. Focus on increasing areas of shade in your garden. You can do this by planting more trees, especially those with a lush canopy density. Follow this up by placing potted plants under the shade of the trees that you have in your garden.
Shade trellis to the rescue!
Apart from natural sources of shade, you can also focus on building a shade trellis in your garden. The slanted positioning of a shade trellis provides maximum shade for your plants and helps keep them cool. Cucumbers and runner beans are plants that can thrive using the shaded trellis that you have installed and provide a light roof for your garden.
The best advantage of a shade trellis is that it can keep outdoor spaces cool without drowning them in total darkness. A shade trellis allows just enough sunlight to reach your garden, without it getting too harsh. It also has open sides, which means that it does not limit the movement of wind across your yard. A shade trellis is a light, airy, and cool solution to beating the heat in summer!
For plants outside the range of your shade trellis, you can use some shade cloth to protect them from sunlight. This cloth works exceptionally well for crops such as peas and spinach, which prefer a cool environment to grow in.
Let’s get prepared for this hot summer and create a cool summer garden for your plants!
Introduction to Horticulture and Propagation Methods (Part 1 of 11)
