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Summer is in full swing and everything looks lush and green during the sunny month of July (hopefully)! After sowing and nurturing seeds and young plants, now is the time for harvesting some delicious home grown food, cut flowers and cooking up summer feasts for evenings in the warm air. Watering and weeding as ever is high on the gardening job list as is deadheading, harvesting and sharing the glut (my neighbours have already had enough of Courgettes)! It’s a lovely month for gardeners with warm early mornings watering plants and evenings in the garden enjoying all the hard work.
Depending on your schedule, watering in the morning or evening is best to prevent evaporation allowing plants to take up as much water and nutrients as they can. Morning watering may help to limit slugs munching on plants since they are more active at night. Watering into the soil will help reach the roots better. Using water from a waterbutt is ideal to save water and costs. Mulch plants with some well rotted organic matter to help retain moisture.
Plants growing in pots, containers and hanging baskets will likely need more regular watering throughout summer, especially in dry spells. Thoroughly water, ensuring good drainage.
If you have a Wisteria, now is the time to prune it to help future flowering, and we all love to see Wisteria flowers! Prune to focus on allowing better air flow and so the sunshine can reach young growth to help flower buds. Remove some of the ‘whippy’ shoots which will be green and this years growth, leaving about five leaves.
Box and Bay Laurel can be trimmed lightly this month to keep them looking neat and tidy, along with any early summer flowering shrubs.
Keep on deadheading for flowers all summer long! Especially annual bedding plants. If you continue to remove the finished flower heads, the plant will just keep on producing more.
Plants that are in active growth, flowering and fruiting will benefit from feeding throughout summer. Fruiting plants, especially in pots will benefit from a high potash feed and if needed and when the weather is hot, mulching around plants will not only help to retain moisture but also feed the soil if you use some well rotted organic material. Comfrey and nettle tea can be used to help plants along as can seaweed.
If you are looking for a mid summer garden spruce up and wondering what can make an instant impact, try hedging and trees that are already well established in the pot. It’s a great way to make your garden look fantastic and bring some instant interested to a patio or even a balcony. In the summer, the one thing you will need to ensure is that you are available to water them enough. If you are growing trees or shrubs in pots, they will soon dry out so be sure to water and feed regularly. The same goes for if you are planting out instant hedging or shrubs bevies in dry, hot weather they may struggle a little unless they are well mulched and watered properly.
Trained fruit trees will need pruning such as apple and pears. Summer pruning these helps to limit growth and allow better development of fruit buds. Light and air will reach branches which will also help to prevent disease. Cherry, Apricot and Peach trees can all be pruned now as well because they are stone fruit. Be careful not to cut off any developing fruits.
Lawn care is mostly climate dependant at this time of year. If it is hot and dry, the lawn might need more water to keep it green and lush but don’t be afraid not to water it! Saving water is so important, and if your lawn dries out it will very likely spring back to life when rain falls in autumn and produce a full green carpet again the following year. Try to cut the lawn on a higher setting which allows moisture retention and less likely to dry out in hot weather.
If it is a wet summer, your lawn will probably be lush and green unless it gets waterlogged and soggy. If this is the case, aerate the lawn to allow better drainage and to avoid muddy footprints!
Look out for aphids, red lily beetle , carrot root fly, slugs, snails and vine weevils (for more info see previous calendar months).
Typically seen on the tips of plants, most notably broad beans but also any plant that catches their eye! Encourage ladybirds and they will feed on aphids to help you out. Usually heavy rainfall will knock them off your plants, or if you really want to – use a hose to spray them. Generally I leave them and let nature do what it needs. Tips of plants with aphids on can also just be pinched off.
Black and brown spots, often on lower and older foliage to begin with but that will soon spread to stems and will kill off all of the foliage really quickly! If the potatoes haven’t developed yet, that’ll be the end of that! But if the tubers have developed, they can be harvested straight away and fine to eat. As soon as you spot blight, remove the foliage and bag it up for the local council green waste. That way the spores will not be able to travel and the heat used at council waste is high enough to kill them off. Blight is the same for tomatoes as it is for potatoes.
Hardy Geraniums, Penstemon and Delphiniums can be cut back to encourage more flowers for the rest of the summer and don’t forget to keep cutting Sweet peas so more flowers grow. My record is 10 weeks of flowering!
It’s time to take cuttings. Free plants = yes please!
Roses: in late spring or summer, cut a piece of healthy new growth from your favourite Rose (this years growth which is called softwood cutting) which are easy to root. Simply snip with sharp secateurs a healthy new stem about 20 to 30cm long. Cut about 2cm below a node and remove all but the top leaves off the stem. Then snip the top of the shoot off also. Dip the bottom cut end into rooting powder, place into a pot of gritty compost or in the ground with some added grit for good drainage.
Dahlias: these are very easy to propagate and since they are so popular, this is a great way to add more to your collection. The best time to take a cutting is when the new stems in early summer grow to about 8cm long. With a sharp knife cut a stem with a piece of the tuber as well. It’s really easy to do. If you don’t get a little tuber attached, just make sure your cutting is just under a leaf node instead. Remove all lower leaves, leaving the top leaves only which can also be cut in half and place around the edges of 9cm pot of gritty compost.
Lavender: simply remove new side shoots with some bark at the bottom. Remove all the leaves apart from those at the top, dip in rooting powder and place around the edges of a pot filled with gritty compost. TO increase humidity which can help, tie a clear polythene page around the pot and cuttings which can be removed when the cuttings have rooted (about 4 to 6 weeks).
Make sure your greenhouse has plenty of ventilation at this time of year by opening vents and doors. If it gets hot, spray inside the greenhouse with a hose to damp down and increase humidity. If needed, give plants some shade and always remove fallen foliage, dead, damaged or diseased plant material to avoid the spread of diseases and pests in the greenhouse.
It’s really important to turn compost at least once a month, especially throughout the summer months and give the heap some water as well so it doesn’t totally dry out. Keep adding a mix of green and brown material for balanced compost.
At this time of year (and all year) wildlife will need access to water. Keep bird baths clean and regularly topped up with fresh water. Ensure ponds and pond buckets have stones and easy access for wildlife to get in and back out again. I love watching birds take a bath and flutter around in the water. Access to food is still important and the best way to feed garden wildlife is to have a biodiverse space full of food and shelter but supplementary feeding with seed and fat balls is really helpful. Keep feeders clean to limit the spread of disease.
If you have fruit trees, remove some of the fruit allowing more space for the remaining to grow. This can also help to prevent disease. If the removed fruit is ok to eat, there’s no need to waste it as they could be used in chutneys, sauce and other homemade cooking.
Gooseberry sawfly is surprisingly destructive. A couple of years ago, they completely demolished my gooseberry bushes in a matter of days – it was quite extraordinary to see! Fortunately the gooseberries had already matured and been harvested so I just left the sawfly to do their thing. The following year the bushes were back to their best will a full harvest so unless your fruit hasn’t developed yet, I would just leave them if you can. Alternatively a hard blast of water will knock them off.
Water well, especially fruiting plants. Raspberries, squash, cucumber, melon for example will need a thorough water regularly and feed.
When your strawberry plants have finished fruiting you will see the ‘runners’ which look like long stems growing from the plant. If you peg these down into the soil, new plants will grow from them. I use a toothpick bent in the middle to hold the small plant/root into the soil. Leave the runner attached to the main plant until it has rooted well into the soil. If you do not want new strawberry plants, snip off the runner and add it to the compost pile.
Keep pinching out tomato side shoots and feed with a tomato fertiliser or some other such as seaweed to keep fruits developing.
Happy July!
