Garden Life: Summer to-do list matches season’s lazy-day vibe

Looking at my garden journal entries from summers gone by, I have noticed a distinct lack of entries in the mid-summer “To Do” section. I’m not saying there is nothing to do at this time of year. I make it a practice to copy down “To Do” lists from other sources so that I have a good feel for what chores are recommended in each specific month or season. Typically, lists for July target lawn care, deadheading flowering perennials, fertilizing spring flowering shrubs, planting fall and winter vegetables, irrigation and spot weeding. What I am saying is that by the time summer is underway, I’m not so sure I want to do everything I find on all of these lists.

I am in that group of gardeners that has a high tolerance for imperfection in the garden. To me, gardening is very much like life. There is little harm in taking a couple of weeks off from your garden routine (or the routines of life, for that matter) at any time of year. Everything will be waiting for you when you are ready to get back in the swing of things. The good thing about slacking off the work load in summer is that there seems to be a distinct lull in the turnover of chores at this time of year. If you weed in spring, new weedlings are sprouting up before you get your pruners back in their holster. Summer weeds are just as tired as we are by late July.

Summer lawns get hammered by children playing, guests and visitors walking across the turf areas and the ravages of full summer sun. The upkeep of our lawns requires regular, scheduled watering and mowing. If you choose to have a lawn, how it looks affects the appearance of the rest of the garden. Flowering borders and pathways look their best when framed by lush, green, well mown grass. In addition, we need to put aside larger blocks of time for seasonal lawn maintenance tasks such as aerating, dethatching and fertilizing.

If you water your lawn on a regular basis, remember that fewer good soakings that distribute at least an inch of water each week will be better for your lawn than a lot of quick, shallow sprinkles. By watering deeply you help the grass form a deeper root system. Water early in the morning when there is less wind and evaporation than during the heat of the day. On cool-season lawns, weeds really take hold when the grass starts to go dormant in July. Hand-weed small infestations as soon as they appear.

Raise your mower level to at least three inches and cut the grass often. Longer grass shades the root system of the entire lawn for better water retention. You should never have to shorten the grass by more than a third at one mowing. The evidence is in. Using a mulching mower with a sharp blade has a positive impact on a healthy lawn. Since grass clippings contain 3 to 5 percent nitrogen, they feed the lawn if you let them fall in place.

With a mulching blade, you do not have to bag clippings. This also allows you to reduce your annual lawn feeding program by at least half. High maintenance lawns, those mowed low, heavily fertilized, and liberally watered, are the most subject to disease. Fight disease by backing off on the fertilizer and water, and by raising the mowing height by 25 percent.

If you have stayed on top of weeding until now, you may only have to run a hoe across the surface of your garden beds on a regular basis. If you mulched earlier in the year, weeds that do come up in garden beds won’t have a solid footing and are easy to pull out by hand. This is also the perfect time of year to refresh any pots and planters that look spent from the hot, dry summer heat.

There are chores to do in every season, but it’s good to remind yourself that the purpose of your garden is the pleasure it gives you throughout the year. In late summer, I try to spend as much time reading a book in the garden as I do pushing my lawn mower. When I mow, I have to be alert and pay strict attention. Resting in the hammock with a good book, as I drift off in the heat of the afternoon, I can almost convince myself that there really is nothing to do.

Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified master gardener.