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Mid-Summer Gardening Tips + To-Do List

While the rush of springtime gardening is behind us, there's still plenty to do to keep things looking lush and healthy as we cruise through summer. Here are the gardening tips and to-do's I'm focusing on in my own garden at Winterhill.

Colorful perennials blooming with purple, yellow and orange flowers in summer.
Sunrise in the front garden at Winterhill.
  • Deadhead perennials with lackluster spent blooms/seedheads (e.g., salvia, nepeta, peony). Doing so will tidy things up aesthetically, and also let the plant focus it's energy into bolstering growth (and blooming) for next year rather than making seeds.

I like using an organic, granular, slow-release fertilizer that's sprinkled around the base of plantings. Image courtesy iStock.
I like using an organic, granular, slow-release fertilizer that's sprinkled around the base of plantings. Image courtesy iStock.
  • Keep after the weeds, especially crab grass. I love using this hori hori which takes out even the most stubborn weeds in a sinch, and ensures the roots don't break off.

  • Stake your tall, droop-prone plantings. I love using these metal half round supports for plants up to 3' high and then opt for bamboo stakes and twine for plantings that go above 3' (especially dahlias).

  • Prune and shape your evergreens (I just gave my ilex and boxwood shrubs a good clipping). Now's also a good time to prune your lilac shrubs for shape and to remove seedheads.

The front garden at Winterhill has several large ilex crenata and buxus microphylla shrubs. I think they look their best after a nice haircut.
The front garden at Winterhill has several large ilex crenata and buxus microphylla shrubs. I think they look their best after a nice haircut.

  • Monitor and treat powdery mildew. If you've got it, treat it with this organic fungicide spray from Bonide. It will take a few applications to get rid of the mildew.


  • Keep pinching your tomatoes and don't let your basil go to flower!

A large heirloom tomato ripes on the vine in summer.
There's nothing like a homegrown tomato in summer. Stay on top of fertilizing, staking and pinching and you'll be rewarded with a delicious bounty. Image courtesy iStock.

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