In the mid-Summer garden . . . .

Mid-summer is upon us bringing with her a mixed bag of blessings. Sweltering hot days after an over-abundance of much prayed for rain has resulted in an over-abundance of plant growth, and fungus diseases. Lawns that have been fed and received some form of winter treatment should be growing very well now. Keep up with the cutting and only remove one third of the growth per cutting. If you mow too low you will scalp your lawn, resulting in white patches appearing immediately after mowing. You have exposed the stems of the lawn which will burn in the heat. These will later turn brown, making the lawn unsightly. Keep a look out for fungal infections in the lawn and treat them accordingly. Keep the blades on your mower sharp and avoid irrigating the lawn late in the evening: early morning is best. If weeds are a problem in the lawn, now is the time to eradicate them. It is best to spray herbicides to control broad-leafed weeds while they are actively growing, and the lawn still has time to catch up to cover over where the weeds once grew.

Keep up with rose maintenance to ensure your roses are in bloom right up to the time you prune. From now on, fertilise monthly with 80g 3:1:5 and 80g Superphosphates. Plants take up nutrients in solution from the soil, so water well to ensure the fertilisers are taken down to root level. Twenty litres of water per week is the rule of thumb. (That is a sprinkler left in position for about an hour.) The best time to water is in the early morning, however late in the evening will also do. Avoid at all costs watering at midday, especially if you are watering overhead. Keep a mulch around your roses to ensure the precious water you have put down stays down. People are always unsure what to use as a mulch. My preference is leaves or leaves mixed half/half with dried lawn clippings. You can also use bark chips, compost and nut shells, or whatever else is available. Keep a check that the mulch does not compact or otherwise inhibit water penetration. For that matter, mulch all shrubs, trees and other areas in the garden not already covered by plants to ensure your precious water does not evaporate and to keep your soil temperature down. This provides a far better growing environment for roots and positively affects plant growth on the whole. I have done this in my own garden and in a short while you could see the results.

Back to your rose care; your roses will also greatly reward you if you foliar feed them. For this you can use Maxi Marinure. This involves mixing up fertlilsers into a solution in a watering can and watering the solution over the leaves. Alternately, you can install an in-line-fertigator if you already have an irrigation system over your roses. This is easier than it sounds. In-line-fertigators are inexpensive little gadgets available from most of the larger garden centres or hardware shops. They are easy to install and can also be used with a garden hosepipe and sprinkler. Diseases may be found on your roses now, especially black spot or powdery mildew. If left unchecked, these diseases will affect the health and bloom production of your roses. Both of these can be controlled using Diathane M45 or Rosecare. Beetles may be causing a problem as well, making holes in the blooms. These can be controlled using Carbaspray. Aphids can be controlled using Malathion, Metasystox or Rosecare. With the current move abroad away from the use of pesticides and our own growing awareness of environmental issues, many are moving away from the use of pesticides. My opinion is to only spray when the pest cannot be controlled using other means, and when a lack of control will adversely affect the overall health and production of the plant. For example, aphids on young growth and blooms could be controlled by rubbing them off with thumb and forefinger rather than mixing up a whole bottle of pesticide and spraying wildly over the whole garden. I also encourage natural predators such as chameleon, ladybirds, preying mantis and the little white-eye bird.

For those people who have neglected their roses thus far, summer pruning should be carried out around about now. This involves removing all dead and damaged branches and old spent blooms, cutting back to healthy wood and a viable bud. It is not a heavy prune as carried out in winter, but a light prune to rejuvenate the bushes to ensure blooming carries on into winter. With the modern rose cultivars that are grown in our gardens today and with the ease of fertilising and irrigating as recommended, it is not too much to expect that the last vase of blooms picked for the home should be picked just before winter pruning in July. But even if you have neglected to keep up with the maintenance thus far into the season, or should you slip up in the future, roses are very forgiving and readily respond to a little bit of tender loving care.

The best part about mid-summer, with its sweltering hot days and regular rains, is the fact that the cooler months of autumn that are so glorious to garden in will soon be upon us. However, it is no time to put away your gardening gloves, even with it not being gardening weather now. Early mornings and evenings are ideal for getting those gardening chores done, while the days can be spent planning your winter and spring garden. Bulb order forms, and later bulbs, will be appearing in the major garden centres soon. You can also start sowing the first of your winter annual seed. To keep your garden full of colour right through to the next summer, stagger your seed sowing. You can also start planning future work to be done in the garden, which can be done as soon as the cooler weather comes. Perhaps you want to plant more trees to beat the summer heat, or you would like to revamp your entrance area , patio or pool surrounds. Do this planning now so that you can get stuck in as soon as the cooler, dry weather returns.