In the summer garden, delicious spring vege crops are ready to harvest, flowers are blooming and it's generally sunny and warm. Take time to enjoy your garden but also take time to protect it so you get the most from your plants.
Follow our guide to enjoy a successful summer garden.
Summer to do list
- Add Debco SaturAid granular soil wetter to all areas of your garden to make the most of water over the warmer months. This will help your plants make the most of water, and can reduce water use by up to 50%.
- Mulch around your plants. A good layer of Tui Mulch & Feed or Tui Pea Straw Mulch on your garden will conserve moisture, protect plants from heat, and suppress weeds.
- Water in the morning before the day gets too hot. A good deep soak every few days is better than shallow watering every day. This will encourage deep roots and helps plants to better survive short term drought.
- Keep your garden weed free, don't let your plants compete for water and nutrients.
- Give plants an application of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic at least every month to make them thrive.
In the vegetable garden
- Dig in Tui Compost before planting to replenish nutrients used by previous crops. Compost is an excellent water saver as it improves the soil by increasing moisture holding capacity, particularly in sandy soils.
- Summer is an ideal time to plant capsicums, courgettes, cucumbers, eggplant, kumara, pumpkins and fresh summer herbs like basil, chives, parsley and thyme.
- Check your crops for signs of pest and disease like aphids, caterpillars, powdery mildew, and of course slugs and snails. Control slugs and snails with Tui Quash.
- Keep mounding up your potato plants with Tui Vegetable Mix as shoots grow, until they are approximately 300mm tall. This will encourage a bigger harvest and protect the crop from the sun and wind.
- Pick the laterals off your tomato plants to encourage bigger and better fruit, and make sure plants heavy with fruit are well staked.
- Harvest your veges regularly, this helps promote more growth throughout the season.
- Keep adding nutrients to replace those used by applying fertiliser every four or so weeks during key growing times. Select a fertiliser specially blended for your plant or crop like the Tui Food range, or use an all purpose variety, such as Tui NovaTec Premium fertiliser.
In the fruit garden
- Strawberries - the more you pick the more they will grow - what a bonus! Remove old leaves and any other part of the plant that looks unhealthy. Apply Tui Strawberry Food to your strawberries and other berries regularly.
- Stake newly planted trees.
- Summer pruning can be undertaken as required. Prune peach, plum and nectarine trees on a clear, dry day.
- Thin out growth on grape vines, check for pests and diseases and deal with any problems before they take hold.
- Harvest apples, apricots, boysenberries, cherries, figs, lemons, mandarins, oranges, peaches, pears, plums and raspberries. Harvest fruit regularly to get the most from your crop.
- After harvest reward your fruit trees with an application of Tui NovaTec Premium fertiliser to promote new growth and stimulate flower buds for next season's fruit.
In the flower garden
- Pick vibrant blooms including roses, hydrangeas, fuchsias, dianthus, delphiniums, lilies, gladiolus, sweet peas, geraniums, cosmos, and sunflowers.
- Make the most of your blooms with basic maintenance - dead heading, weeding, watering, and feeding.
- Use Tui NovaTec Premium fertiliser to feed your flowering plants and extend the season as long as you can.
- Plant up new hanging baskets, pots and containers - use Tui Rose & Shrub Mix for best results.
- Plant aster, chrysanthemum, cosmos, dahlia, geranium, gerbera, impatiens, marigold, petunia.
When should I plant
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Summer Gardening Guide Comments
My potatoes haven't started wilting yet but when they do shall I keep on watering? Thanks.
Christine Leach
Hi Christine, thanks for getting in touch. Not sure when you planted them - if you planted them around September, depending on the variety they will likely be ready soon. Once the foliage starts dying off / wilting this usually indicates they are ready. Keep watering for now, and once they do wilt we suggest having a little dig to see if they are ready by looking at the size. Happy gardening.
Tui Team
Hi Tui, my two feijoa tress are normally heavy fruiters, this year I do not have one single blossom, although the foliage is looking really healthy. Any clues?
Don Moselen
Hi Don, there could be several reasons why feijoas do not produce fruit. If you are in a warm climate with little winter chilling or change in season, even though they are a subtropical plant, they need chilling to initiate flower buds. If they have had too much nitrogen rich fertiliser applied, such as sheep pellets, animal manure or blood and bone, that will encourage leafy growth. For flowering you need to apply a fertiliser rich in potassium (potash). Apply a specially formulated fertiliser such as Tui Novatec Premium slow release fertiliser or Tui Citrus food in spring and again in late summer, early autumn. Mulch around the tree to help conserve soil moisture - even though they are a dry tolerant plant, feijoa tree roots are shallow and close to the soil surface, this will protect them in the dry summer months. It may be that the tree needs a prune to stimulate new growth, flowering and fruiting wood appears at the base of new seasons growth. Trim back by one third to stimulate new growth. If you don't have any fruit set on your tree, then now is a good time to do this so that the tree generates new growth before winter.
The Tui Team
I have a couple of boysenberry bushes, lots of fruit that didn't mature.
Alistair
Hi Alistair, there is variation in varieties, some fruit early in the season and some later, it may just be that there hasn't been enough sunshine and heat, or temperature extremes where you live for the fruit to fully develop, don't give up, they should mature soon.
The Tui Team
Tui Mulch and feed is a wonderful product I just wished I had used it years ago I can't praise it enough, in fact where I used to live, at the Mega Mitre 10 store I frequented I talked one of the gardeners into using it she also loved it, your products are great thank you.
Adrienne Jacobs
Adrienne, thank you for your feedback on Tui Mulch & Feed, the team at Tui love using this product too, it is great you have seen really good results from mulching your garden.
Lianne
I look forward to your Gardening Guides. From sowing to planting and harvesting, and care, the guide is very helpful. Thank you.
Ngaire M Phillips
Always appreciate the tips and advice on planting, nourishing and harvesting. Thanks
Margaret Rotondo