Midsummer isn't the best time for planting, but it's great for planning. Figuring out how to best use a shady nook or sunny patio is easiest when the light is strongest. The summer solstice is behind us, but the next few weeks are still a good time to work out where your sunny spots actually are, and where they're not. And that's helpful for plotting out everything you might want to do and grow in your garden.
Observing sunlight patterns
Last June, I was desperate to peer at our future garden so I could figure out just this. We hadn't exchanged contracts on the place yet and my husband pointed out that the young people who were then renting it would probably refuse me access on the grounds of being weird. Perhaps they would! But I still wanted to see where the sun fell.
I've racked up a higher looking-at-to-working-on ratio in this garden than any other. It's been a slow-burn love affair and I must say I've really enjoyed it. The grass has grown long, we've trodden a desire path down the middle. I've hung a lot of laundry out here. I've spent a good while getting to know the place.
Drawing up design plans
In recent weeks, I've started to draw up design plans and get down on paper my ideas for what the garden could be. None of these are good enough for public consumption, but they're helping me to play with ideas that I know will change – a good, well-loved garden evolves all the time.
High summer isn't a good time for planting things, as I've been saying lately, but it is a good time to examine what you want from your garden and how well it is serving your needs. My husband and I love to host, but we're terrible barbecuers, so I have no need of an outdoor kitchen here. What we lack is somewhere to sit, good hideyholes for the children, and I'm desperate for some proper shade.
Evaluating garden use
Perhaps you find yourself gathering at a secluded spot rather than on the patio? Or maybe you're finding it a chore to trundle down to the end of the garden when you want to eat outside. Is your herb patch in the right place, and your compost bin? Think about these sort of things when you're using your garden and make a list of what's working – and what's not. Draw a little rudimentary map of where the sun comes, and when (you think you'll remember, but you won't).
Stash your notes away. Make a Pinterest board of plants you've admired in other gardens, beautiful paving and other clever ideas. If you're finding some plants demand endless watering, perhaps they're not ones for next year. What if you were to let some of those "volunteer" self-sown plants thrive instead?
Planning for autumn
Such useful thinking can be done while sitting with a glass of something cool in hand. Come September, you can return to your notes and start making plans. Next June, just imagine where you might be.
