The Gardener's To-Do List for July

July is upon us. At this time of year, many garden chores are common to all regions of the United States. Here they are, though this is not an exhaustive list.

For all gardens

• Get ready for fall!
• Start flower and vegetable seedlings for transplanting to your fall garden.
• Fertilize when needed. Check for yellowing leaves and slowed growth.
• If using synthetic granular fertilizer, water your garden first, apply fertilizer to moist soil, then water again. This will help to incorporate the amendment into the soil and reduce the risk of fertilizer burn.
• Good garden hygiene is essential for healthy gardens. Remove dead and dying material to the compost bin.
• Add soft-tissue plant clippings to your compost bin.
• Check your irrigation to make sure you are watering wisely and conserving as much as possible. Adjust as needed. This is especially important in arid regions.
• Refresh mulch in your garden beds to conserve water.
• Add compost to your garden beds.
• Turn your compost pile, again.
• Keep a sharp eye out for pests – sucking aphids, chomping beetles, munching larvae, hornworms, and the like. Pick them off and destroy them, if you can find them. Otherwise, opt for targeted organic solutions rather than using indiscriminate chemical applications.
• Water all plants before applying synthetic or organic chemicals to avoid tissue damage. Dry plants are more susceptible to damage.
• Keep your garden tools clean, dry and sharp to lengthen their lifespan and make your work easier.

For vegetable gardens

• Plant vegetable seedlings or starter plants for another round of production before summer ends.
• Keep pruning your vegetable plants. Tomatoes, cucumbers and other trellised plants will produce better crops if suckers are pinched off and unnecessary growth is removed.
• When removing tomato suckers, stick them in quart containers with fresh, moist potting soil. Keep them in the shade. They’ll root and you can transplant to your garden.
• Check your fruiting vegetables, (e.g. okra, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and melons) for fruit. If the plants are developed enough, but not setting enough fruit, they might not be getting sufficient pollination from bees. If you are watering with an overhead sprinkler, this could keep the bees from working. Instead, irrigate with a watering wand at the base of your plants.
• Pick some types of fruiting vegetables before they fully mature to prevent the plants from ceasing production. This is especially true of cucumbers!
• Stake tall plants to prevent wind damage or structural collapse from heavy yields.
• Squirrels, rabbits and groundhogs can dig in your soil, uproot your plants and eat your veggies. Trap and remove them (humanely) or cover your crops with netting.
• Remove spent vegetable plants and compost them.

For flower gardens

• Fertilize your roses, again.
• Stake tall plants to prevent wind damage.
• Deadhead flowers to keep the plants producing.
• If you’ve been deadheading your garden mums, you can stop now. This will allow them to produce more in fall.
• Prune geraniums (i.e. Pelargoniums), stick the cuttings in fresh, moist potting soil and place them in the shade where they can root and be transplanted to your garden or containers.
• Remove spent annuals and compost them.
• Sow seeds of biennials such as Alcea, Bellis, Campanula, Digitalis and Viola now for next year’s bloom.
• Cut and dry flowers and herbs for later use.
• Seeds can be gathered from dried flowers such as Coreopsis, Echinacea and Rudbeckia to be scattered in your little wildflower meadow-ette for future enjoyment.

For lawns

• Keep your lawnmower blades sharp. Dull blades damage grass leaves, enable disease entry, and make your lawn look UGLY!
• Water deeply only once or twice per week. Frequent shallow watering encourages shallow root penetration and causes the plants to need more frequent watering. Add watering days if the lawn looks stressed.
  
• Do your mid-summer fertilizing.
• Watch for fungus diseases. If you can’t identify them, take samples or photos to your nearby Cooperative Extension Office for diagnosis and recommendations.

For shrubs and trees

• Don’t forget to water them DEEPLY during dry spells. This is especially true of newly planted items.
• Watch for borers. If you discover them too late, you should remove the infected plants and burn them to prevent the borers from migrating to other plants.
• Remove and burn dead wood.
• Prune flowering shrubs soon after blooming.

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