Summertime and the living is easy especially when someone else is doing the work which is often the case when it comes to the garden.

Not having a rainy season in Bermuda is in reality a negative factor for the garden, for water is, especially at this time of year, the elixir of life. In tandem with the temperature, rain/water has a significant impact on plant life, with it plants can flourish, without it they suffer and fall into a state of ‘stress’ or in worst case scenarios demise.

Summer is in many cases the most prolific time for growth and flower production, with growth comes the need for understanding what is the best way of sustaining such growth in a healthy manner. Maintenance tasks therefore should be tailored for the need at that point in time so as energies are not wasted and labour is deployed to be productive.

Watering is of course an important component in keeping a plant in a healthy condition; over-watering is in my opinion more of a sin than under-watering as one can always increase water given but it is not so easy to ‘dry a soil’ out. Plants need moisture to keep foliage firm and flowers blooming, too little can be seen to cause a wilting of foliage a sign more water is needed, however overwatering can create wilting from a different cause, that being root problems with the result foliage and flowers wilt to the point of no return. In an open ground situation I prefer to ‘water heavily to field capacity’ the area perhaps twice a week and encourage roots to ‘search’ and ‘go after’ moisture than to lightly ‘sprinkle’ on a more regular basis. Containers of course are a different animal in that size of pot and size of plant become a determining factor, small pots and ‘old’ root systems will dry out quickly so will need regular watering to keep them active.

Lawns are another area of concern at this time of year with long periods of dry spells taking its toll on active growth; in such situations one should consider leaving the grass uncut if irrigation cannot be given in adequate amounts. During periods of drought and when temperatures are in the 80s and plants/lawns are obviously stressed it is not advisable to fertilise or apply chemicals.

There is a big difference in growth and good active growth, in many instances plants will, under normal conditions, produce new growth, the question is ‘how active’ is the growth. That is why it is advisable to use the weather for such activities whenever possible; if heavy rains are forecast and imminent allow the soil to moisten up a little then apply the fertiliser. In the case of pest and disease control, thoroughly soak the soil around the feeder roots to ensure the plant is not stressed then after a few hours to allow water uptake apply the chemical.

Weeds take up valuable water in times of drought — to the detriment of garden plants — a good enough reason for keeping them under control, they can also play host to pests and diseases.

Flower beds should be weeded once a week using a Dutch hoe to break the surface of the soil thus ‘knocking out’ germinating material before it becomes established. The longer a weed remains in the ground the more water uptake and root growth which in ‘weeds’ that can be propagated from roots becomes a nursery for vegetative regrowth. The smaller the weed the less raking is required to clear the area; I often see flower beds with the roots of the plantings showing clearly on the surface, reasons for this could be simply poor planting or on many occasions when the beds have been raked to remove the weeds soil has also been ‘dragged’ with the weeds with the result that after a time the bed has lost a half inch of soil or so, not good for the exposed root systems.

Pruning dead flowers to encourage new growth and flowering should be an ongoing exercise on such plants as Lantana, Pentas and Salvia as they will produce flower from April to November. Major pruning should only be considered when excessive growth has occurred especially if it has been a wet summer, when growth production is increased; such pruning should ‘open’ up the branch system to allow potential winds to ‘filter’ through thus reducing damage caused by storms. Now we are in the hurricane season removal of heavy growth also encourages new growth so it becomes a positive exercise especially in reducing the potential of storm damage.

It is also advisable to have large, heavily canopied trees inspected by a tree surgeon to determine the need for removal of overly large branches or branches infected with fungal rot or similar. Inspection of large trees by a professional is simply a common sense way of ensuring what basically is a major statement in the landscape remains so; the alternative of having a dead or diseased tree is visually unattractive as well as an expensive exercise to remove if the tree dies. Consider the removal of the top growth alone then add the removal of the root system, an exercise aesthetically impacting both the landscape and the chequebook

Mulching is not in my opinion worth the effort, for several reasons. First and foremost most available mulch is not worth using as it contains large pieces of wood and often other miscellaneous material that will not decompose readily or more bluntly for years; the result is not visually satisfactory. If applied too thickly it creates a ‘compressed’ carpet like coverage which does not allow water to penetrate to the root zone, especially in times of drought. With regard to suppression of weed growth, personally I prefer to use ground cover plantings as mulch in its true physical state breaks down to humus and thus become a growing medium, especially for weed seeds.

Aim for more quality control by checking the garden on a more regular basis and only tackle those tasks requiring attention at that point in time.

Malcolm Griffiths can be contacted at griffm@northrock.bm