1) Get Planting: Plant out runner beans, tomatoes and other tender plants if you haven't already!
2) Start Harvesting: Depending on when you planted them, you can start watching out for and harvesting salad leaves, tomatoes, herbs & edible flowers. Didn't get a chance to plant these yet? Check out our seasonal Veg, Salad, Herb Starter Pack to get growing!
2) Mulch: It's getting hot out there! We're not used to this hot weather in Ireland, and neither are our gardens. Add mulch* to the exposed soil surface around your plants to reduce moisture loss and to protect your dry soil from wind erosion.
3) Check soil moisture levels: How? Take a wooden chopstick and plunge it into the soil! If it darkens, the soil is moist. If not, you better start to water, unless rain is forecast.
2) Water regularly - this means different things to different plants. Also you can 'train' your plants to need less water and develop big healthy roots by spacing out watering sessions. But if your plant growth is stunted, leaves curl up or turn brown/yellow - you should water more often.
3) Water enough: Give enough water - on dry soils you may need to water for a minute of more for enough water to sink deep.
4) Deadhead: To keep them blooming, you should *'deadhead' edible flower plants as blooms fade. However tomatoes, peas and beans grow from flowers, so don't deadhead these!
5) Feed your plants: You can buy organic feed, or make your own from nettles, horsetail or seaweed
6) Ignore some weeds - nettles are helpful places for beneficial insects like ladybirds to feast on aphids and get big enough to protect your plants! Other weeds can be helpful plants for pests to eat instead of your produce!
7) Remove other weeds - brambles and creeping buttercup, will take over unless tightly controlled, so consider putting some manners on them by cutting back and digging out by hand!
8) Check for pests: Check the underside of leaves for aphids which are a common pest at this time of the year
9) Deal with pests organically: Protect plants from aphids with garlic cloves dissolved in water and spray. Ladybirds will eat aphids but ants will farm them!
10) Relax & enjoy! Make some time to take it all in - you've worked hard, now stop and watch a bee, butterfly or bird enjoying the garden as much as you!
Mulch - shredded bark, leaves, grass clippings, straw, wood shavings or even newspaper can be used as mulch
Deadhead - simply pluck dead flowers off the plant stem with a clipper or with your hands
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