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Jun 01, 2023

Garden Jobs For July

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. There's still time to plant summer bulbs for very late flowers! Gardening in July: This is one of the most productive

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

There's still time to plant summer bulbs for very late flowers!

Gardening in July: This is one of the most productive months in the garden, but there's still time to plant and plenty to enjoy.

In July, prune early summer-flowering shrubs such as philadelphus, ribes and weigela after they've blossomed. As well as cutting back for shape, look for any damaged or dead shoots and cut them out.

• Keep up with deadheading bedding plants, sweet peas and roses. The flowers on dahlias will need to be cut off once they've started to fade.

• Many of the traditional English cottage perennials such as lupins, delphiniums and geraniums are starting to look past their best now, so cut them right back down and they'll resprout. They may not flower again but they'll look a lot better.

• It's the last chance to sow any annuals such as cosmos or nigella in flowerbeds.

• Water and feed everything regularly, especially tomatoes. Tie them in to their canes and pinch the outside shoots on cordon varieties to encourage fruiting.

• The last sowing of French beans and carrots can be done now. Transplant purple sprouting broccoli and winter leeks to their final position, or buy them as plugs from a garden centre or nursery.

• Keep sowing seeds for salads, a few at a time, as well as autumn crop peas, turnips and spring cabbages.

• You can still plant seed potatoes too: if you want a lovely crop for Christmas Day, plant them in pots or bags so you can bring them under cover before the first frost.

• Keep an eye on apples and plums to make sure there are not too many on each stem and thin out if necessary – just three or four is enough.

• There should still be some strawberries ripening. Check there is enough straw under the plants to keep fruit off the soil. If you've been pegging down the strawberry runners, by now they should have formed enough roots to enable you to transplant them, either to pots to keep safe until they can be put in the ground, or straight into a new strawberry bed.

• Swiss chard is one of the prettiest and most colourful plants to grow. 'Sow now and you can harvest the rainbow-stalked crops from late summer into winter and even spring. Sow your Swiss chard seeds directly into the soil in rows about 45cm apart and by sowing now, typically provides leaves the following spring,' say the experts at British Garden Centres.

• Strawberries and other soft fruit should be ripe and ready to collect now.

• Pick and freeze or dry herbs so they can be used later.

• Harvest courgettes before they get too big and keep digging up potatoes as and when you need them.

• A lot of the earlier-sown vegetables will be ready in July, for instance peas and broad beans, French and runner beans, globe artichokes, carrots and beetroot.

• Keep an eye on fruit; cherries, peaches, gooseberries, raspberries and early plums are really starting to ripen.

This is something that's easy to do, but easy to get wrong too, and often the main problem is under watering. If you spray an area of planting for one minute and move on, the water is unlikely to have gone deeper than a few millimetres into the soil, so it won't have penetrated anywhere near the roots.

'Water your plants deeply, allowing the water to penetrate the root zone,' says Matt Lindsay, director of living wall specialists Growing Revolution, 'This promotes stronger and deeper root growth, making plants more resilient to heat stress. Water in the early morning or late evening to minimise evaporation. Avoid frequent shallow watering, as it encourages shallow root growth and makes plants more vulnerable to heat.'

As July is a busy and key month for the summer holidays, gardening expert and author, Sarah Raven, suggests utilising slow-release watering systems. 'Using slow-release watering systems is such a fantastic way to ensure your plants are keeping suitably hydrated while you’re away. They work so well, there's no reason not to use them to aid with your daily gardening.

'Grow Bag Waterers work by collecting rainwater, storing it in its large reservoir and then releasing the water gradually. This is absolutely perfect for when you’re not there to oversee. If you’ve got potted plants, terracotta watering spikes are a brilliant option. All you need to do is fill them with water and drive them into the soil and they will carefully and evenly distribute the water.'

• There's still time to plant summer bulbs for very late flowers. Try gladioli with deep colours including dark purple Gladiolus 'Espresso' or the beautiful Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus with its magenta flowers.

• And July is the perfect time to plant bulbs that will bring colour in autumn; for instance, colchicum, sternbergia, amaryllis and nerine will flower in September and October. The nerines are particularly welcome as they have all the head-turning joie de vivre of the early summer blooms with their blasts of pink and white, and can make a real difference to the garden as winter draws in.

July in rose-growing circles is known as the month for black spot. If you find it, remove the affected leaves and spray the plant with fungicide. The same goes for another fungus, mildew, which can also become a problem this month if the roses are stressed by having too much or too little water.

Try to spray the fungicide early in the morning so you don't affect any bees that might be buzzing around the plant (apply as directed on the label and take note of any usage limitations, and only use 'in a minimal and highly targeted manner', advise the RHS). Finally, don't forget to deadhead the roses to keep them flowering.

To mow or not to mow? 'To encourage wildflowers for pollinating insects, now is the time to stop mowing and relax,' say the RHS. If July is particularly dry, you don’t have to mow the lawn; it's best to let it recover without damage.

If you have a conifer hedge, especially a leylandii one, keep a close eye on it at this time of year for cypress aphids. It's difficult to see the aphids themselves so look for brown patches in the hedge and a black sooty mould along the stem. If you find it, the best thing to do is prune out any brown shoots.

...Go into borders, lift leaves and have a look around for pests and weeds. Often it's not a good idea to go looking for problems, but in the garden it pays to have a rummage, as the fresh growth of the past months can hide and feed pests, and weeds can grow unseen under it. British Garden Centres warn: 'As the weather warms up, aphids will be out in force on crops like runner beans and peas. Caterpillars will also be abundant on plants like brassicas and salad leaves so check to make sure they aren’t being eaten.'

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