Maintain the garden in spring and summer

After winter, it's time to get the garden ready for the warm season of the year. We show which gardening work is due in spring and summer.

There is a lot to do in the garden in spring and summer: after the beds and lawn have been freed from the remains of winter, you can dig, sow and fertilize. Then vegetables, fruits, herbs, lawns, bushes and trees grow and flourish well into summer. So you can enjoy your garden in all its splendor. Before you can start the actual work, however, you must check that the garden tools are still working and have survived the winter undamaged. Spades and scissors should be cleaned and sharpened. If the hoses, seals and faucets are still intact, you can start gardening.

Spring gardening: preparing the garden

In the spring, such work is done that prepares the garden for the summer months. Then there is less to do for the coming season. You can start gardening when the soil is dry so that no more soil clings to the garden tools.

Prepare the ground

As soon as you have freed the soil from its protection of mulch and leaves at the end of the frosty nights, you can gradually start working. Soils with a high proportion of loam and clay should now be dug up in spring, unless you have already done this in autumn.

The floor should then calm down a little before it is tilled. During this time, the microorganisms return to the upper layers and the temperature rises slightly. The soil has to be supplied with lime every two to three years. This improves the pH value of the soil, which has been acidified by the rain.

Plant and sow

Now, in spring, is the best time to plant the first fruits and vegetables. The earlier the plants can grow in the ground, the stronger they become. As for the fruit trees, you can now plant apples and cherries. The blackberry is a good choice among the bushes.

You can start sowing from March. Seedlings thrive particularly well when the soil contains a lot of moisture and a little fertilizer salts are added. It is best to use special seed compost for this. The peat-free and sustainable Plantura organic herb & seed compost is ideal for this, for example. What can be sown now in spring are some types of roots and lettuce. Among them are Carrots, Kohlrabi, radish, cress, arugula, Lettuce and lettuce. Come in April spinach, broccoli, potatoes, Strawberries, Eggplant, paprika, leek, Cabbage and asparagus to.

You can now also plant your herbs. The Plantura Organic herb & sowing soil is also a good choice for this. Annuals and perennials are also planted now, as long as it is not so hot outside. With some plants, however, you should wait until the ice saints in May are over. Because Geraniums, Dahlias, begonias, celery, some herbs as well zucchini, Cucumber, Tomatoes and Beans do not tolerate frost.

To be on the safe side, you can protect the plants from spontaneous frost with a fleece or newspaper. Pumpkins and sweet corn can be put into the beds as early as the beginning of May, Brussels sprouts better first towards the end of the month.

Maintain the lawn

In April, the lawn should be aerated and cleared of dead material, weeds, moss and leaves. Then shorten the lawn to four to five centimeters and fertilize it. The soil can also be loosened with a scarifier or a rake. The areas where the lawn is no longer so dense should be re-sown. On heavy soils, the lawn should be aired and sanded in spring. And also fertilization with a primarily organic long-term fertilizer like ours Plantura organic lawn fertilizer helps the green to cope better with the winter damage.

From the first cut of the lawn, it is advisable to mow the lawn regularly. This is the only way it can grow dense and healthy. As for the lawnmower for lawn care, there are different variants, each with their advantages and disadvantages. A cylinder mower is light and manoeuvrable and runs without electricity or petrol, but is only suitable for small lawns. Since the lawn is only shortened a little, you have to mow more often. Wired electric lawnmowers or gasoline lawnmowers are more practical, although electricity and gasoline are required for this. Battery-powered lawn mowers and robotic lawn mowers offer even more convenience.

Bring the trees into shape

In spring, trees, bushes and hedges are also cut to size. You should prune fruit trees before they sprout leaves. The hedges and shrubs in particular are now fertilized so that they can grow well. You should definitely divide up perennials that have grown too big. The old branches are removed directly at the base to make room for new shoots. It should be noted, however, that between March and October only shaped cuts are allowed, as the birds are breeding during this time.

Flowers in the ornamental garden

Bulb flowers such as daffodils, hyacinths and tulips, which bloom in spring, need a replenishment of nutrients in April, or at the latest in May. A special lime fertilizer for bulb flowers is best. The vigorously growing trees of the early flowering shrubs such as the forsythia and the Cornelian cherry you can prune back a lot after flowering.

Gardening in summer: June to September

If you've taken care of the springtime, there won't be as much gardening left in the summer. Still, there is still a bit of work to be done. How much work you can expect, of course, also depends on what and how much fruit, vegetables, herbs and so on you have in the garden.

How to pour properly

That Watering the plants in the garden is sometimes a challenge in summer. It is therefore important to know the water needs of the individual plants. Especially when it is hot outside at lunchtime, you should try not to water. Otherwise the water on the plants will evaporate in the sun. Then the water is gone unused and the plants burn in the process.

However, since the plants need a lot of water, especially in summer, it is advisable to water them in the morning or, alternatively, in the evening. This allows the plants to absorb the liquid better. When watering in summer, the general rule of thumb applies: Better a few times enough than several times too little. Watering abundantly is important so that enough water reaches the lower roots.

tip: We give you important advice for the correct one Plant watering on vacation.

Cutting back various plants

The best time to prune the hedge is towards the end of June, when the shrubs have completed their first phase of growth. When shearing, stay in the leafy resp. needled zone, because a too radical pruning does not get some hedge plants.

You should cut young cuttings in June. The shoots which in the winter of forsythia, Deutzie, Weigela and other plants have been cut and put into the ground, will turn out to be successful in spring if they are grown successfully. As soon as they have reached a length of about ten centimeters, they are shortened by half so that the shrubs branch out well and grow bushy.

Sowing and planting

In the warm season, the plants that you want to harvest later in autumn are sown. These include radish, radishes, spinach, beetroot, and winter leek. You can re-sow French beans until the beginning of July, if they are ready to be harvested eight weeks later. What can still be sown in July is Chinese cabbage, Sugar Loaf, Swiss chard, peas, fennel and radicchio. In addition, the herbs are now re-sown so that they are available until autumn. The lawn can be sown until September.

The harvest is coming

In summer it is time to bring the first crops into the house and process them. Tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini should be lost regularly. Then the plants can use their energy to produce new fruits again, which brings them higher yields overall. In June you can have cherries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Red currants, tomatoes and other vegetables to your heart's content.