We don’t blame you if you’re not feeling summery yet. The recent rains have made the heatwave of June 2018 feel like a long, long time ago. But, believe it or not, the official start of British summer is upon us.
June 21st marks the summer equinox and the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. While the recent rainfall has done its best to dampen our spirits, the long term forecast for the next few months is actually pretty good. The tabloids are running their annual predictions of a heatwave, while more realistic forecasts are looking warm and sunny, if not quite Mediterranean.
With the sun just around the corner, we’re here to help you get your home and garden ready for summer with our top warm weather tips.
1. Plant seasonal flowers
Nothing says summer quite like a garden in bloom. If you’re looking to add a new splash of colour to your garden, we recommend investing in a few bedding plants. The two types of flower to look for are annuals, which can survive all year round, and perennials, which will require a little bit of extra care when the winter frosts come around. Begonias, petunias and geraniums are all popular summer choices, blooming in a gorgeous rainbow of colours.
If you don’t have any space for bedding plants, consider a hanging basket or two. You can buy them ready-made from a garden centre and can hang them anywhere you have wall space for a hook. They’re low maintenance and will give your home an instant splash of colour.
2. Keep your lawn and shrubbery looking its best
Flowers aren’t the only ingredient required for a beautiful summer garden. Your lawn, shrubbery and trees all need a bit of love to look their best when you’re out enjoying the sun. The care needed for your lawn very much depends on the weather. If we have a wet summer it’s likely to need mowing a lot more often. If the summer is largely dry and warm, you might need to water your lawn or even fill out bare patches with grass seed. If you’re concerned about maintaining the health of your lawn over the summer, you may even want to consider laying down stones to form a path that will help keep the grass from being trampled.
The start of summer is also the perfect time to trim back bushes, shrubs and trees. A hedge trimmer is the perfect tool for bigger jobs, but a simple set of shears will work perfectly well for smaller plants. If you have concerns about larger trees, now might be the time to call a tree surgeon to make sure everything is in order before you start spending a lot of time outdoors. Take a look at Thompson Morgan’s June garden tips for more outdoor ideas.
3. Give your outdoor furniture a clean
The start of summer is the time to get your outdoor furniture looking its best. The steps you need to take will vary depending on the type of furniture you have. Furniture with synthetic, glass or metal components shouldn’t need too much more than a wipe down but wooden furniture may need more care.
We’re not experts in outdoor furniture, but this article has some great tips. It’s possible to clean your furniture with shop bought products, home-mixed solutions and even 100% chemical-free mixtures. Whatever you choose, make sure you test your cleaning product on an inconspicuous part of the furniture and avoid the temptation to use a pressure washer, which can damage the wood.
4. Consider a lick of paint
As we (hopefully) enter a period of drier weather, you might want to take the opportunity to spruce up your home’s exterior. Painted walls and wooden windows and doors will naturally deteriorate over time and may need a bit of love. If you have doors and uPVC windows in your Nottingham home, you can rest easy – they need very little maintenance except for the occasional wipe.
Before painting wooden window and door frames, you will need to clean and quite possibly sand them, using a similar method to the one for wooden furniture described in the article linked above. You can then apply wood paint to make sure the colour holds for a long period of time.
5. Open up the house
Finally, what better way to enjoy the summer than to open up your house? A Nottingham designed conservatory or set of patio doors can make your home feel much larger and help you to enjoy the summer weather even if you’re spending time inside.
If you don’t have a way to open up the house, it’s not too late to arrange installation this summer. Bi-fold doors, in particular, can be a great way to open up one wall of a room completely, allowing you to enjoy the weather and let a lot more light into the room all year round. These installations are also perfect for entertaining guests, giving you plenty of space to move inside and outside the house. If you’re interested in looking at the options for patio doors or even a new conservatory, get in touch with us today.