How to Save Your Summer Garden from a Slow Death

Summer gardens take a beating—pests, scorching heat, drought, violent storms, you name it. Here are five tips from expert gardener Niki Jabbour to keep your garden from fading away before the season's over.

5 Summer Garden Tips for Better Growth

1 Attract. Midsummer is prime time for fruiting crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. Give your yields a lift by luring in more pollinators with high-nectar annuals such as sweet alyssum, zinnias, and sunflowers.

2 Monitor. Catch pest and disease trouble early by keeping a close eye on things. Look for warning signs like holes in the leaves or wilting and yellowing foliage. If you spot pests, don't panic—identify the problem and assess the likely damage first. I actually let small aphid colonies stick around because they draw in ladybugs, which end up knocking down the overall pest population.

3 Feed. Give fruiting and long-season vegetables a midsummer pick-me-up with fish emulsion or liquid kelp. Liquid kelp is especially rich in micronutrients—I spray it on as a foliar feed once a month to keep my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and pole beans healthy and pumping out fruit.

4 Cover. Birds love berries just as much as we do, so protect your harvest with simple bird netting. It comes in pre-cut sizes and large rolls. Drape it right over highbush blueberries, red and black currants, trellised raspberries, and other fruiting plants. Be sure to tuck the edges against the trunks so crafty birds can't sneak underneath.

5 Stake. The lazy days of summer can make a gardener a little lazy too, but don't neglect climbing crops—especially indeterminate tomatoes—that need to be tied to their supports as they grow. Garden twine works, but old strips of pantyhose are wonderfully gentle on stems and my go-to choice for tying shoots to stakes and trellises.

Niki Jabbour grows edible plants year-round near Halifax, Nova Scotia. She's the author of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener and Groundbreaking Food Gardens, and Horticulture's resident veggie-growing expert.

Here are 5 Tips for Summer Tomato Careif you're battling troubles with your tomatoes.