The days stretch endlessly, the weather tries hard to be good, and your garden has that magical midsummer combination of overflowing abundance, still lit with the freshness and inner vitality of late spring. Summer stretches out ahead in an unbroken festival of floral proliferation.
Well, up to a point. Disregarding what we can't control, such as the weather and the soil, a great deal of how summer unravels itself in your garden, in the months ahead, will be down to what you do in the critical fortnight or so between midsummer, 24 June, and the middle of July. In effect, it is the end of one season and the start of another, and this transition can itself be awkward. The five-week season of early summer, between Whitsun and midsummer, is the high point of the year. Everything from the beginning of January has aspired to that brief period of glory, and the garden has both the careless beauty of youth and an easy maturity. The roses are at their best, irises, poppies, lupins, foxgloves and clematis spill from the borders, and the garden has a heady sense of being at the peak of perfection and yet is filled with the promise of more to come.
But all good things come to an end. The secret and skill is to accept the change and make it work for you and your garden so that the next season, late summer, has all the possible riches and depth that only it can provide. In fact, although I love the blithe glory of May and June, I think Longmeadow actually looks best and really comes into its own in August and September. But it does not happen naturally. Do nothing and the garden slumps, hungover from June's heady excess. It is time to detox, make changes and introduce a whole new raft of plants.
Esta historia es de la edición July 2024 de BBC Gardeners World.
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Esta historia es de la edición July 2024 de BBC Gardeners World.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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A new plot for tasty crops
Taking on a new allotment needn't be hard work. By simply following a few easy tips you can have bumper crops in no time, just like Alessandro Vitale
We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
Now, at the height of summer, Frances Tophill shows how to boost your plants' health and productivity with a timely cut
Hassle-free harvests
Flowers are out in abundance this month and for Jack Wallington, many of these blooms make delicious, low-effort pickings
Bite-sized bounties
Glorious doorstep harvests can easily turn into gluts, so let Rukmini Iyer's recipes help you savour every last bit
Upcycled outdoor living
Create unique and stylish garden features for minimal cost using reclaimed materials and simple DIY skills. Helen Riches shares four step-by-step projects and more inspiring eco tips
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Buildings and landscapes can play a vital role in supercharging your space, as Nick Bailey demonstrates
Greening up a city balcony
Looking for sustainable, small-space gardening ideas? Take inspiration from Oliver Hymans' transformed balcony garden in north-east London - now a lush, green haven for humans and wildlife
The dry and mighty garden
As we adapt our gardens to a more volatile climate, Alan Titchmarsh reveals how to create a drought-tolerant plot and picks his top plant performers
Nature knows best
Carol Klein explains how to choose plants for specific growing conditions, based on what has naturally adapted to thrive there