Top Projects to get your Florida Garden Ready for Summer
Summer is here! As the warmer months roll on, there are certain chores or projects you can do in your yard and garden to ensure a healthier, sustainable garden. Here are eight top chores I’d recommend to get your Florida garden ready for Summer!
Irrigation
Try watering your plants and lawn mornings before 10am. This is better for your pocket and your garden! Water evaporates during the hotter times of the day, wasting money and water. Waiting to water the garden or yard in the evening keeps the roots damp longer, which can lead to diseases and more pests. Timers can be installed to help keep a consistent schedule. This will be super helpful for when you’re out of town or even when it’s really hot you don’t want to be manually watering your lawn every few days.
You may have noticed the rainy season began mid-May this year. Expect afternoon showers or downpours a few times a week, which can minimize the need to have irrigation running. One way to be proactive is to install a rain gauge. A rain gauge will monitor how much rainfall your garden receives and can automatically shut off the sprinkler system. Both timers and rain gauges are relatively inexpensive and can be purchased at most garden centers or Amazon.
Put away the Fertilizer
In case you were not aware, in almost every county in the state of Florida there is a fertilizer ban from June 1 - October 1st. No, there are not garden police going around the neighborhoods checking but it is more important to follow this ban because of the exact reason it is in place - to protect our environment and drinking water. Heavy rainfalls cause runoff of things from our yards, like synthetic chemicals, into our waterways. Our waterways, like the Indian River Lagoon or Turkey Creek Sanctuary, then become polluted from the nitrogen or phosphorus that is often sprayed in chemical form of fertilizer on our yards and gardens. So please, do your part to protect Florida wildlife and ecosystem by seeking out fertilizer alternatives, like compost or organic liquid seaweed. Besides, these synthetic chemicals only serve as a bandaid to the real problem your plants or yard may be facing!
Compost
As mentioned in the previous point, compost is an awesome alternative to fertilizers for your garden. Sure you can buy compost at your local garden center, but I have found it's much more rewarding to create my own compost. There are many options for any garden or home size and you’re in luck! I previously wrote a blog solely focused on composting that you can dig into to discover what compost option is best for your household.
Harvest Veggies
Florida’s summer heat will already stress out the gardens, so do your vegetable and fruit areas a favor and harvest/prune when needed. Some vegetables, like peppers, tomatoes, and cucumber, need to be harvested for it to produce more. By pruning the fruit, the plant can redistribute its energy to help yield more veggies! Harvesting also reduces the plant’s susceptibility to diseases and improves the overall health of the plant.
Mulch
There are various benefits to mulching. Weeds can be minimized by mulching. ( I do recommend layering cardboard underneath first to maximize weed prevention. Landscape fabric is not something I would ever4 recommend. Besides cardboard is much cheaper. Just be sure to remove stickers, tape, or plastic because it will not naturally breakdown.) Mulch can minimize erosion during the summer afternoon monsoons. Moisture and temperature can be maintained by mulching around plants. Be careful not to mulch too closely to the stems of plants, they call this volcano mulching, leave a little room for air and water flow.
Prune or Deadhead Flowers
Blooms thrive on new growth of a plant. Prune or deadhead (whichever term you prefer) your spent flowers to encourage your flowers to flourish. One piece of advice I always try to give when it comes to pruning is “less is better” because you can always prune more tomorrow but you can’t glue that limb or flower back on the plant! It is always good to step away from a plant to assess if more is needed or just right.
Check for Stress
Make a habit of walking around to monitor the garden or yard at least once a week. With more sunshine and rain things tend to grow faster during the summer months. It’s also prime time for plants to become more stressed. Trust me, it is so much easier to address a bug or disease issue early on than to let it fester for a week or two. If you’re going out of town, especially for more than a week, it may be a good idea to find a garden friend to help watch your garden.
Minimize Standing Water
Mosquitos are the worst this time of year! They only need a small amount of standing water to reproduce and continue to be a nuisance. I’d recommend replacing water in bird baths every few days, create a continuous flow of water, dump trays underneath pots, and/or look into organic mosquito pellets for certain areas that might prove challenging to address.
Summer is a beautiful time to be out enjoying your garden. So get out and enjoy it! Hope you found this blog helpful in getting your garden or yard ready for Florida in summertime. I plan to publish a blog very soon to help select ideal plants that can take the heat, salt, and sunshine this time of year brings up. So keep an eye out!!