Summer Gardening Tips & Tricks From the Mansfield Garden Club

May 31, 2016 07:41PM ● By Melanie Heisinger

The Mansfield Garden Club at the Pickle Parade.

With summertime right around the corner, keeping up and maintaining a garden can get tricky. We were lucky enough to get in touch with the Mansfield Garden Club (MGC) and learn a few tips and tricks to help make summertime gardening a little easier.

Read on for some useful tips for gardening during the summer:

1. "Drip irrigation is helpful in container gardening as well as summer bed gardening."
-- Donna Timmons.

Drip irrigation is important particularly in the summer because it drips into the roots below the soil surface, through a series of tubing, keeping the plant efficiently hydrated without any wasteful evaporation. Read more about drip irrigation here.

2. "Select plants that grow well in this area." -- Karen Green.

Some examples are different varieties of salvia, daylilies, lantana, iris, and many ornamental grasses. For more plants that grow well in the area, research some great local gardening books at your local bookstores and nurseries. Visit our directory to search for local spots.

3. "Water consistently." -- Barbara Sissen.

This tip goes without saying, but it's especially important to be consistent with watering during the summertime months.

4. "Ask for help before buying & planting, because all tags are not are not placed on the correct plants." -- Sue Cannizzaro.

Don't believe the plastic tag in the pot with gardening information, because they are not always accurate for Texas. It's important to ask the garden staff at your local nursery for some advice and assistance while picking out the perfect plants for your garden, or ask a fellow gardener. Don't have a gardening friend? Call the Tarrant County Master Gardener's Resource Center at 817-884-1944, or email tarrantmg@ag.tamu.edu for assistance.

5. "By joining a local garden club you can get help from other gardeners as well as meeting new people who can become a good friend." -- Tammie Pavese.

To get even more tips and tricks year round, local garden clubs are the way to go. Obviously, the Mansfield Garden Club would be a great place to start!

6. "Plan your landscaping carefully by planting drought-tolerant plants that do well in our extreme summertime heat." -- Valerie Crowe.

We've given a few examples of plants that grow in the area, but it's important to note that planting any succulent, summer phlox or coreopsis are ideal for withstanding the summertime heat.

About the Mansfield Garden Club

The Mansfield Garden Club was established in 1999 and is an informal group of gardeners -- some beginners and others more experienced -- who share information, plants, knowledge, and good times.

Besides their general meetings, (They meet at 6pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the Mansfield Service Center, 620 S. Wisteria Street) MGC participates in many community projects. We have hosted garden tours of some of Mansfield's most beautiful private gardens. We have helped landscape the Habitat for Humanity houses in Mansfield, have planted wildflowers in public spaces, and participate in the “Adopt-A-Street” program sponsored by the "Keep Mansfield Beautiful Commission" by keeping Pleasant Ridge Drive "litter-free".

The Mansfield Garden Club Mission Statement:

"Dedicated to stimulating the knowledge and love of gardening, encouraging interest in civic beauty, providing benevolent methods of taking care of our landscapes and most of all meeting and getting to know others who share our love of nature."

For more Information about The Mansfield Garden Club send an email to info@mansfieldgardenclub.com or visit their website.

Special thanks to Barbara Sissen, President of MGC, for compiling these tips.

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