JOBS FOR
JULY
July is peak gardening time for all of us. High summer means plants are in full bloom and there’s lots going on in your fruit and veg patches too! Offer all of your plants, fruits and veggies a lot of TLC at this time of year to prevent anything drying out and you will be rewarded with lush foliage, beautiful shows and wonderful scents as well as delicious, fresh produce. There is plenty to do!
JOBS FOR
JULY
July is peak gardening time for all of us. High summer means plants are in full bloom and there’s lots going on in your fruit and veg patches too!
Offer all of your plants, fruits and veggies a lot of TLC at this time of year to prevent anything drying out and you will be rewarded with lush foliage, beautiful shows and wonderful scents as well as delicious, fresh produce. There is plenty to do!
- Dead head bedding plants, shrubs, containers, perennials and shrubs every few days. This encourages more flowering. Give the plants a feed now with a Liquid Plant Feed. Cut back early summer perennials like hardy geraniums and delphiniums after flowering for a second bloom. Feed roses with Fish, Blood & Bone after they have had their first bloom to help keep them healthy and to help prevent disease such as rust, black spot or mildew.
- Hanging baskets and other container plants should be watered twice a day when it is very warm and sunny as they dry out quickly. Feed them every couple of weeks with a Soluble Tomato Feed and cut back any straggly or old growth to promote further flowering.
- Softwood cuttings can be taken now from coleus, cotinus, fuchsias, hydrangeas, marguerites, pelargoniums, pyracantha, spiraea and other tender perennials.
- Keep up to date with your weeding as they will compete with your plants for valuable nutrients and water. Hoeing and hand weeding helps to stop them setting seed.
- Disbud any buds from your dahlias that are below the main bud. This improves the size of the remaining flowers and gives the stems more strength. Give them a Feed, keep them well watered and support the stems of tall varieties by tying them to a Cane as they grow bigger.
- Deter slugs and snails using Brassica Collars or by putting crushed eggshells around your plants. If this does not work, consider Slug Killer Pellets. You can also use Insect Netting to deter Cabbage White Butterflies from laying their eggs on the leaves now.
- Water greenhouse plants every day in the early morning or late evening and keep the greenhouse well ventilated during the day by opening the doors and vents early in the morning. Remember to close them in the evening to avoid pests entering. If too much sunlight is getting to your plants or they are still suffering in the heat, consider Shade Netting to help keep them cooler.
- Damp down the greenhouse floor (cover the floor in water) in the early morning on hot days to increase the humidity to help stop your plants from suffering from heat stress and to deter red spider mites. Keep an eye out for other pests such as whitefly, lily beetles, snails, aphids and vine weevils and treat any infestations using a Bug Control Spray and put up Sticky Traps to catch flying pests. Tidy fallen flowers and foliage from floors, container and beds and sweep the floors and staging of your greenhouse often. This helps to prevent pests and diseases that could be lurking in the debris.
- Water growing onions and shallots as well as thirsty plants like as celery, beans, peas, courgettes, pumpkins and tomatoes regularly to encourage a good, flavoursome crop. Watering tomatoes daily prevents them drying out which can lead to blossom end rot and split fruit. Feed tomatoes, peppers, chillies and cucumbers every week with a High Potash Feed to encourage more fruiting once fruits have started to appear.
- Harvest beetroots, carrots, runner beans, French beans, and courgettes now. You can also harvest garlic when the tops of the leaves start to go yellow and bend. You can eat some now then hang the rest up somewhere dry and sunny to finish ripening. Herbs can be harvested this month and either dried out or frozen. You can take cuttings now too so that you have more next year.
- Soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants, white currants and blackcurrants can be harvested now. While these plants are fruiting, remove runners, cutting them close to the soil. This will then encourage the plant to produce more fruit. Runners can be begged down in pots of Compost to encourage the rooting of new plants. If you find your soft fruits are getting eaten by birds, cover them with Bird Netting.
- Thin out the crops on your apple, pear, peach and plum trees now and give them a prune while the weather is dry, removing some of the weaker looking fruits and side shoots. This helps to reduce the risk of disease, as well as encouraging the strongest shoots to develop and larger fruits to be produced.
- Mow and give your lawn a water once a week (not at the same time). Before watering, spike your lawn with a garden fork. If you have a sprinkler, turn that on for half an hour, if not a fine spray with your hose will do the trick. If your grass turns brown, be assured that it will turn green again once the rains arrive! If need be, you can fill in any gaps in autumn with some Grass Seed. Avoid mowing during any prolonged dry spells as you will stress it out. After the first mowing this month, give your lawn a feed with a Summer Lawn Feed.
- In your pond, clean the pumps and filters and ensure any debris and weeds are removed. Whilst you are at it, deadhead flowering pond plants so they don’t self-seed and remove blanket weed from the pond’s surface as and when it appears. During hot weather, top up the water levels to not only keep your fish and plants healthy but to prevent any damage to your pond liner.
What to Grow & Sow in July
Greenhouse
- Delphinium
- Forget-me-not
- Foxglove
- Geranium
- Pansies
- Scabious
- Sweet William
- Viola
- Wallflower
Outdoors
- Forget-me-nots
- Basil
- Beetroot
- Calabrese
- Cauliflower
- Chicory
- Chinese Cabbage
- Coriander
- Dill
- Endive
- French Beans
- Kale
- Pak Choi
- Parsley
- Peas
- Radish
- Runner Beans
- Salad Leaves
- Spinach
- Spring Cabbages
- Spring Onions
- Swiss Chard
- Turnips
Greenhouse
- Delphinium
- Forget-me-not
- Foxglove
- Geranium
- Pansies
- Scabious
- Sweet William
- Viola
- Wallflower
Outdoors
- Forget-me-nots
- Basil
- Beetroot
- Calabrese
- Cauliflower
- Chicory
- Chinese Cabbage
- Coriander
- Dill
- Endive
- French Beans
- Kale
- Pak Choi
- Parsley
- Peas
- Radish
- Runner Beans
- Salad Leaves
- Spinach
- Spring Cabbages
- Spring Onions
- Swiss Chard
- Turnips
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