Aphids: RHS gardening expert gives tips for dealing with pests
With the warmer weather comes great responsibility. It becomes a far more important job to care for and maintain the garden.
Britons also need to be extremely careful when tending to their garden to ensure that they do not make any small mistakes or forget any hugely important jobs that could negatively affect their greenery.
With this in mind, gardening expert William Mitchell of Sutton Manor Nursery has shared five “hugely important rules” that gardeners “must follow” to ensure that their garden is maintained and cared for “properly”.
1. Keep pests away from plants
Unfortunately in the summer months, it is not uncommon for a garden to become riddled with unwanted pests. While some pests can actually have a lot of benefits, many pests can actually be “very detrimental” to plants.
William warned: “You should be on the lookout for pests such as aphids, maggots, caterpillars, cutworms and beetles. These are the pests that can cause the most destruction within your garden space.”
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For those trying to spot these kinds of pests then they should look out for symptoms such as sticky leaves, holes in leaves, wilting, ragged edges, browning and poor growth.
2. Keep on top of weeding
One of the “most important rules of summer gardening” is to always keep on top of weed growth. This is so important because if weeds are left alone they can be “incredibly dangerous to other plants within the garden” and can even “result in their death”, warned the expert.
He added: “Unsightly and unwanted weeds take the vital nutrients and moisture out of the soil and the sun and stop other younger and more vulnerable plants from getting what they need to grow properly.”
Keep weeds at bay by regularly inspecting the lawn, planters and flower beds. While pulling out weeds, ensure that they have been fully uprooted. This will ensure that the weeds “do not start growing back anytime soon”.
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3. Regularly prune and deadhead plants
Another “incredibly important rule” to remember is deadheading all plants that have started to brown or die. This will not only help to encourage new growth but will ensure that gardens are always full of life and colour.
During summer, gardeners will see many plants that have started to see better days due to the heat. they need to go around the garden pruning and deadheading any plants that have come to the end of their bloom. This is important as these plants will be taking vital nutrients, sunlight, pollen and moisture away from younger plants that are growing through.
4. Regularly water plants
The next rule is one that most will be aware of. The rule is to ensure that gardeners are regularly watering their plants, especially in long dry spells. If plants go without regular water during warm and drier weather gardeners can expect their plants to “dry out and inevitably die”.
Aim to water plants two to three times a week at the peak of the summer months as this is more than sufficient to keep plants looking “bright and beautiful”.
When watering a variety of plants it is important to do the research as to how much water the specific plants need. This can help gardeners to avoid overwatering plants.
5. Keep on top of your lawn
Lawns are generally the biggest point of gardens and therefore the focal point. For this reason, there is no point in spending lots of time and effort on plants and flowers if the lawn is just going to be left to grow out and look untidy.
During summer, lawns will grow at a much faster rate than it would at any other time of the year as the grass has more access to sunlight in the summer months. Because of this, William said: “You will need to cut your lawn far more frequently than you would at other times of the year.
“You should cut your lawn once a week to maintain the healthiest possible lawn. In addition to this, you should avoid cutting the grass too short as this can actually damage the grass leaf.
“Grass leaf is hugely important as it is an essential food for the grass. By cutting your grass too short and damaging the grass leaf you will make it far harder for the grass to get all the food it needs and for it to stay looking healthy.”
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