Summer has just begun, and forecasters predict it will be one of the hottest summers in recorded history. In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing show you how to keep your garden and landscape cool and colourful in the summer heat with tips and tricks and do’s and don'ts for your July garden.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Pros and cons of the recent hard fast rain and things to consider with your garden and containers.
• Lawns
  • The importance of watering deeply but less frequently
  • The best type of fertilizer for your lawn situation
  • The best time to fertilize
  • Staying on top of weeds
• Perennials/Annuals in the Garden
  • Deadhead perennials to clean up or encourage new growth 
  • It may be time to clean up your annual containers and replace individual plants if there is a dead or poor-growing one.
  • Make sure the annual containers are not being over under or overwatered
  • Time to fertilize containers as well
• Shrubs: Pruning spring bloomers after flowering
• Trees: Fertilizing shrubs and trees, the best timing depending on the weather.
• Best ways to deep-water trees; do not rely on rain only
• Matthew and Joanne’s vegetable garden
• Don’t miss Matthew on Global News Morning this Friday!

After nine seasons and over 340 episodes, Down the Garden Path Podcast is ending its live broadcast on Reality Radio 101.

Although it was the last live broadcast, listeners can find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast. 

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca 

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.