BEDS, borders, containers, window boxes and hanging baskets are now planted up with summer flowers of one's choice, and now it is a case of looking after them and getting them to their full potential.
The weather will play a large part in how they will perform. In beds and borders, only if the weather is dry and sunny will they require watering.
Containers, hanging baskets, pictured below, and window boxes are a different matter. Dry spells mea
n checking that the compost has not dried out.
Hanging baskets are the ones that need the most attention. No matter what size the basket, they have been packed full with plants but there can never be enough compost. To compensate, watering and feeding must be given on a regular basis.
Baskets are often suited against a building, sheltered from any rain, not out in the open, so watering is essential and this can mean daily – even though it has rained!
For best results with summer flowers in all types of container, feeding weekly is a requirement. There are many products on the market for this, two that come to mind are Phostrogen and Miracle-Go.
All that is required is adding a measured amount of powder to a given volume of water. It is no benefit adding 'a little extra', that is only a waste of feed. Feeding is only taken up by plants if the compost is moist; it is no use giving feed to dry soil.
Another helping hand your flowers need is dead-heading. Regular attention to this will keep them producing more blooms, as well as keeping the plants looking tidy.
Dead-heading is not confined to summer annuals, perennials will also benefit from this attention and it's lupins that need this now. Remove spent spikes before they set seed and you may be rewarded with some smaller ones later on. The same applies to pinks; keep removing dead flowers and more blooms will follow.
Once a plant has set seed it has accomplished its object – to reproduce – therefore there is no need to produce more flowers. By removing dead heads, seed heads don't form, so the plant keeps flowering.
It is also beneficial to cut back many herbaceous perennials once flowering is over. The foliage can get rather untidy and unsightly, so cut them down and fresh new growth will follow. There might even be more flowers, but if not, well at least the plant will look a lot better.
