How to plant a hot sunny garden

Planting a hot sunny garden requires some preparation if the plants are to thrive.

We all love a bit of sun, and so do plants, in fact many love being absolutely baked by the sun all day. Well they don’t have to worry about wrinkles and free radicals damage. However, the key to ensuring the plants in the garden thrive in a hot sunny garden is all down to the soil.  

So if your soil looks like this….

your plants will not look like this in summer!

So come the Autumn, Winter or even the Spring, add loads of well rotted compost or manure to the soil. This is especially important if you have clay soil. The fibres in the manure hold moisture, but more importantly these prevent the tiny clay particles clumping together. This ensures the soil stays loose and friable even in hot weather. If the ground is not baked hard like concrete, the plant’s roots can penetrate the ground more. Seeking out the cooler more moist soil below.

Don’t cover the base of the plants with it, but spread it round amongst everything at least 5-6cm deep, better 10cm deep.

Then your flowers will bask in the sun but have their toes dipped in ‘a cool pool’.

Creating any garden border planting plan can be tricky, especially if you don’t know much about plants. Knowing what to plant in the garden or how to design a planting scheme can be difficult, so to help, we have written a number of articles that lead you through the process. From how to plant a garden to more specific planting issues such as windy gardens, seaside gardens, wet or exposed garden planting and even how to plant a vertical garden.