How I Prepare for Summer in My Garden

Summer is near, and everything seems to be growing so abundantly that overnight, the garden changes and looks lusher and fuller. Summer brings many great things to a garden. But summer can also bring some challenges. 

Preparation is key to making sure that things do not get out of control and that plants remain healthy. Each year, here are some of the things I do to prepare for summer in my garden:

Sowing for Summer in My Garden

A summer garden is where you can really begin to see the fruits of your labors as a gardener. But of course, having those crops growing well and beginning to harvest the edibles you have grown cannot happen overnight. 

To reap the rewards in summer, we need to have sown and planted and tended in the spring. 

To have a healthy and productive summer garden, I start sowing in January or February indoors and sow much more as spring arrives, which can then be transplanted and placed into my polytunnel or outside in my garden when warmer weather arrives. 

To harvest in summer, I sow successionally over the earlier part of the year so that the harvests of summer crops can be enjoyed over as long a season as possible. 

Preparing for Summer Heat

I am lucky to live in an area where excessive summer heat is not a common problem. However, since I grow in a polytunnel, as well as outdoors, I do need to think about keeping the undercover growing area cool over the warmest part of the year. 

Whether managing summer heat outdoors or under cover in a greenhouse or polytunnel, we need to think about three key things: shade, airflow, and thermal mass. 

Shade

When it is warm, we often need to reduce the air temperatures. But we should also think about reducing the temperatures of the soil. We do this by keeping the soil covered by vegetation and by creating shade with plants or with other structures. 

I keep the soil cooler in my polytunnel garden by sowing groundcovers and living mulches, as well as by using other organic mulches throughout the space. I also sometimes think about growing taller plants to create shaded areas for lettuce and other plants prone to bolting in summer. 

Airflow

However, I also think about airflow and make sure my growing areas and beds do not get congested so that air can pass through. And I have positioned my polytunnel so that summer breezes blow through to cool the space. 

Thermal Mass

I also prepared my polytunnel for seasonal fluctuations in temperature by adding materials with good thermal mass (rocks along bed edges, for example). 

These materials catch and store the heat energy from the sun during the day, and release that heat slowly when temperatures fall. This helps to keep temperatures more stable throughout the year—keeping things a little cooler in summer and a little warmer during the winter months. 

Creating a Water-Wise Summer Garden

Another very important consideration in summer is water. Where I live, true drought is extremely uncommon. But we can have some fairly long dry spells in spring or summer. Since we are on a private water supply, thinking about how and where we use water is particularly important. 

Some care and attention up front help me prepare for summer and make sure I can use water wisely throughout the year. 

One key job before summer arrives is to make sure that my water barrels are working as they should and that I can harvest rainfall from the roofs on our property. 

Another thing that I have to think about is the maintenance of our garden wildlife pond. It is not only our plants that need water but also the many creatures with whom we share our space. 

I also need to think about how to reduce the amount of water I use, particularly in my polytunnel. Using soaker hose drip irrigation, mulches, and judiciously creating shaded areas with the plants I grow helps reduce water use within the structure. 

Thinking about all of these things before summer arrives helps me to make sure my garden does not encounter any major issues during the warmest part of the year.