How To Prepare Your Garden For A Heat Wave

After a double record breaker – with the spring 2025, the warmest and sunniest has been since the beginning of the records – it seems that the wonderful weather in Great Britain shows no signs of fading, with mild temperatures until the next week staying into the next week.

But while these longer warmer temperatures are a great message for picnic, grill and beach plans, they are less brilliant for our gardens.

While we usually greet sunshine and warmth for our green, too much warmth can have a harmful influence on our gardens, with increased water evaporation leading to sunk leaves, stunted growth and wild.

In the following we ask experts how you can prepare your garden with warm weather for a long time – so that you can save your plants intelligent and not harder.

Water with care

All experts are united When You do that.

Harriet Worsley, Worsley Design & Consultancy, says: “Never water when it is hot, and avoid that water sprays on the leaves in the sunshine while the water boils in the sun and the leaves catch the leaves – how to spray their garden with a kettle. Instead, water.

“Be particularly careful with pots and window boxes that dry out, dry out faster than beds.”

Irrigation of yellow konflowers breeders in the balcony garden

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James Ewens, garden expert at Green Springs, explains that the depth and rare irrigation in hot weather magic is more advantageous than a little and often.

He says: “If you strive for irrigation to the roots, low and rarely – either in the early morning or late evening. Avoiding the midday sun will ensure that water does not evaporate quickly, and rare water enables water to soak too deep into the plant.

But a word of warning: it is important to check the hosespipe rules in your region to determine whether there is a ban.

The garden and greenhouse expert Lucie Bradley from Easy Garden irrigation recommends the recycling of “gray water” – household water from shells, bathtubs or touch panes in the summer months. However, it adds: “You should also remember that plants grow better if it is watered with rainwater and not with tap water because it does not treat or contains chemicals such as chlorine that are not advantageous for plants.”

This means that you ideally use water barrels or water heads to collect rainwater all year round and keep what you can use in summer when it is dry.

Prepare yourself for the shadow

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“As we want a parasol to protect us from direct sunlight during the hot sunny days, our plants will also benefit from when the sun is strongest,” adds Lucie.

And remember that you can always move around plants in hot spells.

Harriet adds: “You can also take the proximity of your garden into account and strategically place the plants in order to shade them out of the sun as effectively as possible.

“It is a good idea to move your container plants to shaded or partially shaded areas to protect them from the midday sun. You can even consider shadow substances or row covers over your plants and lawn to protect them from the blazing sun.”

If you have a kitchen garden with vegetables in rows, a good addition is a tunnel cloche that has shadow material as a cover, Lucie recommends.

It adds: “For individual plants, increased beds or garden edges, you can use the shadow network to reduce the thickness of the sun. Ideally, you want shadow material, the air and some sunlight and water through when it is available -since your plants would suffer if the entire light was covered.”

Protect your floor

Low angle view of the woman's hands that plant flowers in spring

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The soil in your garden is of crucial importance so that your plants can thrive because the roots accept their moisture and nutrients to ensure that their plants are healthy. So it is really important that you protect this in hot weather.

Lucie explains that the best way to do this is to apply a mulch layer – ideally it should be between two and four inches deep – since this not only contributes to keeping moisture in the soil, but also contributes to checking the temperature of the soil.

She says: “This happens by acting as a barrier. Direct sunlight does not reach the surface of the floor and cannot heat it as quickly – in the same way as protecting the soil in a colder temperature by acting as a barrier for frosts. While it contributes to checking the temperature of the soil.

James Ewens, garden expert at Green Spring, recommends that you give your garden a deep soak with water and apply your mulch.

Preview for the new good life: How you can improve the ground health of your garden

Put down fertilizer

One thing that you should certainly not do during a heat wave is fertilizer, say the experts.

James explains: “Although it feels essential for their lawn and plant health, it usually stimulates the growth and health of your garden, but it is not advisable to do this at hot temperatures.

“The use of fertilizer in the heat is counterproductive, not only can increase the likelihood of burning planting, but also if it stimulates plant growth with the fertilizer, more water is required – which of course is already limited in hot weather.”

Leave grass larger

Grass cut with lawnmowers. Half of the grass and half is still long. Freshly cut back yard

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On very hot days, it is important to resist mowing because a lawn takes time to keep moisture when it is stressed out by hot weather.

And with regard to the preparation of the lawn preparation in front of the heat, James explains: “If you expect a heat wave, it is a good idea to increase your mower height in order to prepare for the heat and the grass is greater, the soil that is by longer sounds, shadows and reduces moisture loss.”