Summer Gardening

Summer brings long, bright days that let you make the most of your outdoor space. Even the smallest garden, balcony, or patio can become a colourful, fragrant retreat filled with wildlife and calm. And the best part? Summer gardening doesn’t have to feel like a full‑time job.

Here are some simple, beginner‑friendly tips from our WellChild Helping Hands team to help your garden flourish all season long, and give you a peaceful haven to relax in.

1. Watering

Watering is the most important summer job, even on days when you don’t have time for much else. During hot spells, plants may need watering daily, especially those in hanging baskets or small pots.

Helpful watering tips:

• Water early in the morning to reduce evaporation.
• Target the soil around the base of plants, not the leaves.
• Give plants a deep soak rather than a quick sprinkle.
• Use the “finger test”: if the top inch of soil is dry, it’s time to water.
• Save water with a water butt. Many recycling centres or local sellers such as those on Facebook offer second‑hand ones at a fraction of the price of new ones!
• Going away? Ask a neighbour or set up an automatic watering system so you don’t come home to parched plants, but if you do miss a day or two, don’t panic! Most summer plants bounce back quickly!

2. Grow Something You Can Eat

Growing your own food is fun, rewarding, and ideal for beginners. Start with easy crops such as:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Strawberries

They’re perfect for children to grow and a great way to encourage healthy eating!

Herbs like mint, rosemary, and curry plants add delicious fragrance, attract wildlife, and are wonderful for cooking. You can even add mint leaves to your favourite summer drink! Many garden centres offer great deals on herb plants in summer such as B&Q.

Of all the edible plants, I find tomatoes the easiest to grow. A sunny spot, regular watering, and the occasional liquid feed will reward you with a surprisingly big harvest from just one plant. If you’re unsure how to start, you can find many short videos online to help guide you from start to finish. Click here to view a video I find very useful for growing tomatoes.

3. Adding New Plants

If you’d like to brighten your garden with new flowers, try these low‑maintenance favourites:

• Marigolds: cheerful and hardy.
• Sunflowers: fun for all ages and stunning in bloom.
• Zinnias: vibrant and great for cutting.

They love sunshine and need very little fuss.

And if you’re already hooked on gardening, late summer is the perfect time to start planning ahead and thinking about autumn planting.

4. Welcome Friendly Wildlife

If you have room, leaving even a small corner of your garden to grow wild creates a brilliant habitat for birds, bees, and butterflies, and reduces maintenance too.  Not only this, children love exploring these mini‑nature zones as well!

Wildlife‑friendly ideas:

• Plant lavender or cosmos. Bees can’t resist them.
• Leave a shallow dish of water with pebbles so insects can safely drink.
• Avoid chemical sprays! Many insects actually benefit your garden.

5. Little Jobs Make a Big Difference

Small, regular tasks keep your garden looking healthy without feeling overwhelming. Remember: little and often! A minute of weeding each time you step outside can save you hours of hard work later.

Helpful tasks:

• Remove old, faded flowers (known as deadheading) from roses, bedding plants and perennials to encourage new blooms.
• Add a layer of mulch (bark or compost) to keep soil cool and moist.
• Remove weeds from beds, borders, patios and paths to reduce competition for water and nutrients, and to simply help keep your garden looking great!
• Trim back overgrown areas and prune shrubs that have finished flowering.
• Watch out for pests like slugs, snails, and caterpillars. Also use eco‑friendly products or natural pest control as needed.
• If you have grass areas which require mowing, raise your mower blade during the summer months because slightly longer grass copes better in dry weather.

Summer Garden Checklist

Check out our daily / weekly jobs checklist below!

Create Your Summer Retreat

By following these easy steps, you can transform your outdoor space into a peaceful summer retreat, a place to relax, unwind, and enjoy warm evenings. Adding in a few solar lights for soft nighttime glow and you’ve just created your own little sanctuary!

And always remember unless you want to your garden to be exhibited at Kew then:

Gardening is about enjoyment, not perfection!

Gardening for Other Seasons!

You could also check out our other seasonal gardening articles written by our Helping Hands team.

• Spring Gardening
• Winter Gardening
• See the rest of our garden improvement articles to help make your garden more sensory, suitable, and accessible for your child

If you have any comments, ideas, or suggestions about this article please contact us at [email protected]

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