Here comes the sun! Your guide to summer gardening success

With the right plants and techniques, summer gardening can be an absolute breeze. Follow our top tips for success

As the longest day creeps nearer it’s great to spend more time in the garden, soaking up the warmth and celebrating the fact that everything is now growing like mad. But different seasons demand different approaches and while we’re digging out the shorts and sun cream for the summer season, we also need to switch our gardening habits to manage a warmer way of working.

Sunshine brings new ways of gardening, and tending your plot when it’s hot, hot, hot presents both challenges and opportunities. So, what’s the best thing to do to maximise that all-important hammocktime as temperatures soar?

Making good plant choices and employing the right techniques can make the difference between sipping a cool drink in a tropical paradise of your own and rushing around frantically with a watering can as all around you wilts.

As water supplies start to dwindle and the soil starts to bake, think positive and be prepared. Don’t just pray for rain, make sure every drop of water is a drop well-used and that ‘right plant right place’ is your mantra. We might well be in for a scorcher, so here’s what to do when things warm up.

What does ‘full sun’ actually mean?

Depending on the time of year and aspect, the amount of sun a garden gets can vary dramatically, but ‘full sun’ is generally considered to be more than six hours of direct sun per day, at midsummer. And while some plants are not keen, others love the sun and even insist on it!

Plants have adaptations to deal with heat, solar radiation and low water levels. Leaves are often fleshy or very small, which helps conserve water, while a waxy cuticle reduces evaporation.

Fine hairs trap a layer of moisture around leaves to prevent excessive desiccation and some plants, such as lavender and santolina, are silvery in colour, to reflect sunlight. Large root systems also help with water capture.

Hot and happy!

Gardening in full sun i is about pulling together and managing the variables of heat, light and available water so that you end up with a situation that your plants will tolerate or, even better, actively enjoy.

Drought-loving plants – or xerophytes – are very efficient with water, but because of this they’ll generally need free-draining soil and if they’re put in a cool, damp spot they’ll struggle or rot.

With the right care, plants that like semi-shade may do fine in a sunny spot, but since they lose more water than fleshy or hairy sun-lovers,

they ey need the biggest,gge , most effective root system they can get. So, water them well until they’re established and they may still need a dousing if temperatures rise.

Defeat the drought Minimise the risk of drought by taking care of your soil. Improve it with lots of bulky organic material, composted green waste, rotted manure or garden compost and mulch with bark chips or pebbles to protect the surface from heat nd reduce evaporation.

Watering new plants well will help them establish good oots to support the foliage when imes get tough. In the case of rees and climbers, it can take everal years for them to become ully resilient to drought.

Well-adapted plants will mostly take care of themselves o save your attention for the nes that are struggling. Many plants are quite tolerant but, if something is unhappy, keep it well watered in high summer and move it to a better spot in autumn.

In pots and containers, tailor your compost to your plants. Succulents and lavender will prefer a gritty, free-draining compost, while thirstier bedding, such as petunias, will like things moist so pick a suitably absorbent growing medium and add water-retaining gel granules as a back-up.

The perils of scorch

When exposed to high

temperatures, bright sunshine and drying winds, leaves can develop scorched brown patches, usually near the top of the plant and on younger foliage. This is more usual in thin-leaved, woodland plants and those adapted to shadier areas, such as acers, than on Mediterranean plants or alpines.

Interestingly, scorch is no longer thought to be a result of watering at the ‘wrong’ time of day or in full sun. Instead, it’s believed to be the result of the leaves dying back because water is being lost faster than it can be replaced. Continues over the page

Good watering

Water borders liberally every few days so the moisture penetrates deep into the soil and

the roots, too. A daily sprinkle will just dampen the surface and encourage shallow rooting, making garden plants more vulnerable to dry weather.

Try to water at the beginning of the day, or at least not too late. Overnight dampness can promote fungal diseases.

Plunge smaller pots into a bucket of water for half an hour, then let them drain. This will provide a useful moisture-boost, but don’t leave them in there for too long or the roots will drown!

Treat ’em mean to keep ’em keen…

Plants from hot areas are naturally spare and wiry. If you feed and water them too much they’ll develop lots of soft and sappy growth that’ll wilt in summer and may be prone to frost damage in winter.

…but give them a fighting chance!

Plant out semi- hardy plants no earlier than April, when the soil is warm and they can grow away quickly, developing a decent root system that’ll help survive both summer drought and winter wet. Tender plants and

succulents will need to be overwintered in a frost-free Sh u er place, such as a conservatory st oc k or insulated greenhouse.

Better together

Plants evaporate water from the leaves in a process called transpiration – this pulls nutrients and water in at the

roots. But if the air is dry and the water evaporates too fast, the plant can wilt. Grouping your containers together will allow the plants to shade each other

and create a moist microclimate, limiting the amount of water that’s lost to the atmosphere.

Words Naomi Slade Gravel gardens are the perfect spot for droughttolerant plants

Silver-leaved plants such as santolina reflect sunlight, so cope well with hot spots Kniphofia Ignite the border with red-hot pokers! Salvia argentea has hairy, fleshy, silver leaves that retain moisture

A. americana A. parryi Sedum spectabile This fleshy perennial is a garden trouper, with leaves that can be green or deep purple and flowers that are a magnet for bees. Agave A gloriously structural genus,and are particularly striking. Mesembryanthemum Perky Livingstone daisies are at their sparkling best in a dry and sunny spot. Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’ Tall and handsome, and a great cut flower. Dry winds and hot sunshine have scorched this choisya

Aeonium Like an echeveria with a itude, this handsome succulent carries tight rose es on bare branches. Rock roses Pre y helianthemum enjoys a well-drained sunny spot. Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ A late-summer stunner, with blue flowers over erect, glaucous foliage. Reduce evaporation with a layer of mulch

Water well and deep Halimium are pre y rockroses that need li le water Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Spirit’ With leaves like golden pennies, this shrub is smokin’! Zonal pelargonium Tender they may be, but with lovely leaves below bold blooms they’re a great excuse to bring bedding back. Daphne odora ‘Rebecca’ A good all-rounder, the striking, variegated foliage is topped with pre y and fragrant spring flowers. Ipomoea ‘Sweetheart Light Green’ Break out the sunglasses for this luscious-leaved, zingy lovely. Robust sun-lovers that fend for themselves in summer will need TLC in winter.

Canna Bold but not brash, cannas earn their stripes every time. Euphorbia characias wulfenii ‘John Tomlinson’ A smart, upright plant with zesty, lime-green bracts. Grouping pots creates shade and collective moisture Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’ Strong, strappy leaves with a bu ery streak a mile wide. Coleus With shades of pink, red, orange, green and purple, this is a plant that really adds bling to a border.