Four-weekend summer garden planner

When summer comes around, the garden takes centre stage. This handy garden planner will help you make it the living room of choice for outdoor entertaining on a warm evening, the source of handy salad harvests when you’re preparing a meal, and a cool and shady retreat at all times.

Gardens set the scene for the festive season, too, so they have to look their best at this time of year. 
If you’re seeking a little inspiration, take your lead from our handy four-weekend planner, and read our guide to help you tick off all the essential jobs on the garden to-do list over summer, including:

• Getting your lawn looking even and removing weeds
• Tidying up the vege patch
• Cleaning the deck and adding seasonal plants and flowers
• Utilising shady areas and irrigation systems to help your garden in the heat
• Making the most of the summer by adding a water feature, bird bath or planting some extra summer vegetables
• In the last weeks of summer, feeding the flowers and pruning

Tip: Always wear the appropriate safety equipment (safety glasses, gloves, ear muffs and a mask, for example) and always follow the instructions for the product or equipment.

Weekend 1

Start off with a few early summer garden planner jobs, and smarten things up before Christmas.

Love your lawns

Lawns get a lot of use in summer, so help them keep their good looks for months to come. Apply a dressing of slow-release lawn food now and tackle any nasties like Onehunga weed before they become a pain in the foot – use a selective weed spray for lawns or remove by hand. To repair any bare lawn patches quickly, install matching turf.

Be salad sufficient

In the vege garden, pull out the remains of spent crops and fork through compost and well-rotted manure. Get tomato, eggplant, bean, courgette, cucumber and capsicum seedlings and young plants in the ground. If you don’t have a productive patch, purchase a few lightweight troughs and get yourself ‘salad sufficient’ for summer – plant lettuce, basil, rocket, parsley and mizuna, plus a few easy-care cherry tomatoes.

Make it sparkle

Before the entertaining season, clean paving and decks using a water blaster and wash down outdoor furniture. For a quick burst of floral colour, focus efforts on decorative containers planted with blooms – petunias, calibrachoas, impatiens, mini marigolds, salvias and brachyscome are all great options.

Add some Christmas colour

Add wow factor with a plant known for its Christmas-time show, to enjoy in bloom every year. Pōhutukawa (metrosideros thomasii) bears fabulous crimson flowers on a grey-leafed shrub that can grow to about 5m high. It can also be grown in pots.

Weekend 2

Summer can be tough on plants, so set them up to cope with the heat.

Add a soil-wetting agent

Apply a soil-wetting agent to all areas, to help water penetrate effectively down to the root zone. Available in granular or liquid forms, these products counter soil’s water-repellent properties (especially a hard, crusty surface) so water absorbs properly without simply running off. Treat containers too, as potting mixes can also become water-repellent over time.

More mulch please

Spread mulch over beds to insulate the surface and slow down evaporation. Use a loose-structured mix for effective water penetration. A blend of compost with pea straw laid no more than 5cm thick is a good recipe. Leave a clear space around plant stems and water well after application.

Install some irrigation

Irrigation systems are great time savers and a wide range of sprays and drippers are available to suit garden beds, lawns and container plants. Install a timer (automated or manual) to simplify the job and minimise wastage. First, measure out a rough map of your garden beds and lawn areas, marking the tap locations, then head in store for parts and advice.

Find some shade

If you’re going away for holidays, cluster your potted plants in a shady spot with saucers beneath them. Water well before leaving and call on a trusty friend or neighbour to top them up. 

Tip: Looking to install an irrigation system? Check out our easy step-by-step guide.

Weekend 3

Enhance the summer garden vibe with tranquil scenes and lingering scents.

Give your garden a focal point

A water feature creates an irresistible focal point in a garden, even on the smallest scale. You can purchase an all-in-one kit or create your own: select a decorative container about 20-30cm deep and seal the drainage hole with silicone. Add a submerged aquatic plant (these help keep the water clean) and a few small fish to eat any mozzie wrigglers, and install a small fountain with a solar-powered pump.

Tip: Bring some calm and peace to your garden by creating your own water feature with these handy hints.

Grow some perfume

A summer garden needs perfume, so think about adding a frangipani (in store from January) or gardenia to your backyard scene. Best suited to warmer northern regions, frangipani trees can be kept compact by winter pruning and the flowers exude a gorgeous scent, especially on summer nights. Shrubby gardenias can be slightly more tolerant of cool winters. They make fragrant hedges or tub plants.

Don't forget about the birds

Birds get thirsty at this time of year, so place a bird bath or water bowl in a protected spot where they can safely drink and bathe, ideally near low branches. You can dress up bird baths and water bowls at night by floating a few flowers and candles on the surface.

Top up your vege supply

There’s still time to top up your summer vege supply, as earlier plantings start to expire. Put in a few quick-cropping cherry tomatoes, dwarf beans, cucumbers and courgette along with leafy greens such as lettuce, rocket, Asian greens and basil.

Weekend 4

For the final weekend in this garden planner, tame that exuberant summer growth and tackle any pests and diseases head-on.

Time for a tidy

Late summer calls for a general pruning, to reclaim some of the garden’s overgrown space! Trim back spent flowering stems on shrubs, perennials and natives that have finished blooming (leave healthy blooms on shrubs like hydrangea). Cut back twining tendrils on climbing plants such as wisteria and star jasmine.

Watch out for mildew and caterpillars

In humid areas, watch for mildew diseases that present as white powder on stems and foliage – spray with a fungicide. Remove scale insects from plant stems using soapy water and a toothbrush (or spray with horticultural oil) and keep an eye out for hungry caterpillars on flowers and vegetables – these can simply be picked off.

Give your garden a feed

Keep the garden looking colourful at this time of year by feeding long-blooming flowers, like petunias and impatiens, with a liquid fertiliser formulated for flowering plants. And if you need replacement colour, look no further than gorgeous dahlias – usually planted around Labour Day (end of October), they start blooming in late summer and extend through autumn.

Lightly prune your roses

If you’re a rose grower, it’s time for a light summer pruning. Remove about a third of the stem on repeat-flowering varieties, and they’ll burst back with another flush in autumn.

Sun-loving plants

You can enjoy plenty of garden colour in summer, while reducing your water use, by seeking out showy foliage plants.

Bromeliads are top of the list, their broad leaves splashed, spotted and striped with pinks, reds and golds.

For something larger, check out the numerous varieties of cordyline on offer – Cordyline australis or cabbage tree tolerates a wide range of temperature conditions.

As alternatives to flowers in pots and garden beds, succulents offer plenty of variety, from grey and mauve echeverias to golden sedums and the muted blue of Senecio serpens, also known as blue chalksticks.

Keep in mind…

Wear gloves and a mask when handling mulch, compost and potting mix and also when pruning, along with long sleeves, as the leaves and sap of some plants can be a skin irritant and cause allergic reactions.

Take care when selecting plants as some can be poisonous to children and pets, and check their suitability for your area, as some may be classified as weeds in certain regions.

Store garden chemicals and products out of reach of children and pets.

Check with your local authority if watering restrictions apply in your area, and adjust timer settings to suit.

Before installing a pond, check your local authority’s safety regulations and guidelines. Always closely supervise children around any body of water. 

Keen to learn a clever way to grow herbs, veges and flowers in the heat?

Learn how to set up a water-efficient wicking bed for thriving plants.

Photo credit: Gap Photos/Brent Wilson, Natasha Dickins, Louise Roche, Adobe Stock. 

Some photographs feature products from suppliers other than Bunnings.  
Some advertised services and products are not available at some Bunnings stores, but products can be ordered.