Summer gardening tips for a beautiful garden

Pinch out tomatoes: Side shoots, which form in the “armpit” between the stem and petiole, should be removed. Then all the plant’s energy will go into the formation of juicy fruits.

Thin out fruit: Pome fruit trees often produce more fruit than they can actually supply. At the beginning of June, the tree drops these fruits on its own during the June fruit drop. If there are still too many fruits hanging from an individual cluster, the smallest fruits should be cut off. For example, this can be done using STIHL’s high-quality garden and pruning shears. After having been thinned out, the remaining fruits should lie far apart with a finger width between them.

Remove withered flowers: To prevent the plants from running out of steam during the summer and only forming seeds but no flowers, withered flowers should be cleaned out regularly, i.e. broken or cut off.

Fertilize: Long-term grass fertilizer works for a good three months. If you have fertilized your lawn in spring, you should give it a second coat now and fertilize it with the slow-release fertilizer.

Fight caterpillars: Offer codling moths an artificial hiding place in which to pupate – with 10cm wide strips of coarse corrugated board. Tie them around the apple stem and check them weekly for caterpillars. After eating apples for four weeks until they are full, the pests leave them at the beginning of July and look for a hiding place under the bark – and the corrugated board. By removing them, you counteract a new infestation.

Propagate strawberries: Strawberries form long tendrils with leafy offshoots that are well suited for propagation. Raise the offshoot that grows closest to the mother plant, bury a small clay pot underneath, and plant the offshoot in it. The connection to the mother plant is maintained for the time being, and only the tendril behind the pot is removed so that the strawberry doesn’t have to supply any more plants. The cuttings root until autumn, then you can cut off the tendril from the mother plant.

Thin out fruit trees: Vertical water sprouts that have formed in the trees only cost the tree energy. Now cut as close to the branch as possible – we recommend using STIHL pruning shears

Water: Water less often, but abundantly. This allows the water to seep deep into the soil and reach the plant roots. A clay soil should be watered once a week, but a sandy soil every 2-3 days. Water in the morning.

Mow the lawn: When mowing, always make sure that the blades are sharp. The correct cutting height depends on the amount of sunlight: in sunny locations, the optimum height is 4 to 5cm, but for shady lawns this is 5 to 7cm. To avoid unattractive flaws in the lawn, no more than a third of the length should be shortened during each mowing. When dry, the stalks should remain 1-2cm longer. If you use a mulch mower, you will have to work once or twice a week, as otherwise too many lawn cuttings will fall onto the turf at once and create felt.

Hoe the soil: Regular hoeing saves water. The hoe creates hair-thin holes in the soil through which soil water evaporates. After hoeing, the upper centimetres of the soil dry out, but it remains moist underneath.

Plant kale: If you grow kale and other winter vegetables in August, you can harvest them in winter. Place 6 pieces per square metre at a distance of 45x45cm. Now the soil mustn’t dry out anymore.

Cut off flowers: Even though it might be difficult, cut off all new tomato and pepper flowers from August with garden shears. The resulting fruit would not ripen by autumn anyway and the plant wastes energy which it could instead put into the existing fruit

Harvest potatoes: The potato harvest starts in June with the first new potatoes and ends in October with the late varieties for storage.

Use a digging fork for this. It may spear some tubers, but spades or shovels would cause greater damage under the tubers.

Take cuttings: Material for cuttings accumulates abundantly during pruning. The best time for cuttings is from spring to August. Cuttings are generally placed in a nutrient-poor soil. This puts the rooted plants on a diet and forces them to develop more roots.

Collect seeds: Anyone who harvests seeds will recognise this problem: fine grains can hardly be separated from flower remains. A fan can help. Let the plant material fall into the gust of wind and the heavy seeds will drop in front of the fan while the rest will blow away.

Separate perennials: Apart from taking cuttings, separation is the fastest method of propagation. Dig out the plant, shake off the soil and use a spade to divide it into several pieces, which must have at least one shoot bud and enough roots.

Blackberries

Sweet Cherries

Thin skin, poor shelf life

Very good shelf life

End of May to mid-June

Winter Cauliflower

May to July

When the caterpillars appear in spring, spray infested plants with gentle Bacillus thuringiensis preparations.

Black Spot

Cut off affected leaves immediately, disinfect tools, collect leaves from the ground. Use fungicides in the event of heavy infestation.

Cuttings are parts – usually 5-10cm long shoot tips – of a mother plant, which is rooted in moist sowing soil. Advantage: the cuttings have all the characteristics of the mother plant. Cuttings root within a few weeks and can then be planted out as young plants. Flowering plants such as roses or hydrangeas, but also useful plants such as raspberries and herbs such as lavender can be propagated using the cuttings method.

Subshrubs such as thyme, rosemary or lavender can lignify at their base over the years. Regular pruning in early spring helps to avoid them going bare.

Thyme, lavender, rosemary and sage can be planted together in one place since they have the same location requirements.

Parsley and basil can be planted together in one place, but not next to chervil, dill or celery.

Coriander, dill and sweet fennel thrive well between savoury, nasturtium and chamomile.

All herbs should be harvested constantly – so they simply grow better and bushier. 

The right harvest time makes the herbs taste good: they contain the highest concentration of essential oils shortly before flowering.

When harvesting, you should wait until the night dew has disappeared.

There are various methods for preserving herbs: robust herbs are bundled and hung upside down to dry. Finer herbs can be preserved in oil or turned into pesto.