How gardeners can deal with hot weather misery

The summer here in the deep south-west has been brutal. There is no better word to describe it. With water restrictions imposed, much of the garden had to be left to survive if it could. Greywater from showers and the kitchen was the only way to try to save special plants. There are many casualties. 

Now, in November, it is time to take stock. Time to clear up, cut back and plan for next summer’s canicules (heatwaves) as best we can. This year the problem here was lack of rain from the summer storms. There were storms to the east and to the west of us, but nothing here. I know that means we escaped the damaging hail, but we went a very long time without any precipitation whatsoever. To add insult to injury, we even got the violent winds of a storm, wrenching large branches from the ash tree but no rain. I shredded the twiggy bits for mulching in an effort to improve water retention in the future and cut the bigger bits into logs for the wood burner.

Frankly, the garden looked awful. The Petit Printemps (Little Spring) of autumn was so longed for. The respite from the searing temperatures was so desired. It’s an alien feeling for me. I’m a summer baby, born in a heatwave and having lived in the tropics. Maybe it’s my age, but now I just can’t cope when the thermometer registers higher than blood heat. We have spent many afternoons inside, shutters closed and fan on, unable to do anything outside at all. Early mornings were spent ‘fire-fighting’.

One of the effects of the prolonged drought is the lack of biennial seedlings. Usually the wallflowers, foxgloves, forget-me-nots and Malcolmia have all peppered the beds with next year’s plants and my normal job is to thin and transplant them. This year the seedlings grew, shrivelled and died. There are very few survivors. If I can find some mini mottes (plug plants) online, I shall be placing an order so that there are not huge gaps in the borders next spring.

Some perennials look completely dead, but I am not digging them up yet. Hope springs eternal and some may rise, Lazarus-like, next spring. I will trim off the crisp foliage, chop it up and leave it on the bed as a mulch. The penstemons and salvias look so sad, but they may revive with this treatment. I shan’t rush to decisions. If there are a few somewhat healthy stems, I will try some overwintering cuttings in the greenhouse or on a windowsill. It’s not the best time of year to do this, but I have found they often take and, if they do, you have a head start in the spring.

Roses may have looked almost dormant over the summer, but the cooler autumn temperatures should have provoked them into flowering again. Rose roots go very deep and an established healthy plant can usually survive. It is time to cosset them a little. 

Give them a good prune, making sure you remove any dead, damaged or crossing branches – this is where infections can get in. Break the crust of the soil with a small fork and remove any weeds around the base. Top-dress with some well-rotted manure.

I had severe dahlia disappointment this summer. Lots of buds failed to open, frying under the scorching sun. Leaves turned white and papery and the plants in full sun only just survived. Those staying in the flower beds will be lifted, cleaned and divided before being replanted in soil that has been enriched with manure and garden compost. I will cover the crowns with dry leaf mulch.

Many of the hedging plants around the garden look dreadful – a good trim and feed is essential. The small-leaved honeysuckle around the pool is particularly bad. 

Treatment will be a severe cut back – to the ground, if necessary – and a feed and mulch. In places where it’s been shadier, the plants look better, so I will clear some soil around the base and pot up some root cuttings to fill in gaps next spring.

I will walk around the garden looking for any dead or broken branches on shrubs or trees and will try to cut out any damage before winter winds make the problems worse.

The hydrangeas are looking somewhat better now, but they were a sorry sight. Any dried-out stems can be cut out and removed now, but I will leave dried spent flowerheads until next spring. I heap up grass cuttings around the base of the plants and these will break down over the winter. If they acidify the soil a bit, that’s no bad thing.

There hasn’t been much of a heap of lawn cuttings as the grass simply stopped growing for about three months. Although I like the green as a foil for the flowers and planting, I am really careless with the lawn. 

In the next few months, I will recut the edges, reposition the large pebbles that form an edge around some of the beds, take out any couch grass roots that have invaded the beds and have been impossible to deal with whilst the soil
was baked as hard as concrete. 

The same goes for any big perennial weeds in the lawns – any large clumps of dandelions, docks and daisies will be removed as the soil softens. 

We have to make sure the back lawn gets its last cut as late as possible because, due to the height of our house, the sun doesn’t touch it at all from the beginning of November until the end of March. It can get too wet to cut this month, and if it gets out of hand, I may be forced to use my hated strimmer.

And then, it’s time for a bit of a rest. Summer was quite a struggle. It’s now time to recharge.