Gardening Jobs for July

With long, sun filled days, keeping your garden well maintained will allow you to sit back and relax on some comfy garden furniture or host a bbq surrounded by fragrant summer flowers and thriving foliage.

Our list of gardening jobs for July involve keeping your garden plants hydrated, deadheading annuals, harvesting produce and keeping everything neat and tidy.

Tips for July Gardening

1. Keep deadheading annuals and perennials blooming in July such as roses, cosmos and geraniums. This will help prevent disease and prolong flowering.
2. Continue to water deeply in the early morning or late evening, especially for potted plants, vegetable plants and newly planted shrubs.
3. Prepare for autumn planting by ordering spring-flowering bulbs like hyacinth, tulips and daffodils.
4. Watch and routinely treat pests like aphids, red lily beetles and cabbage white butterfly caterpillars.
5. If you have any terracotta pots in your garden, make sure to keep those damp along with the soil.
6. Don’t forget about your plants when you go on holiday - make sure to set up a watering system!

Garden Maintenance

1. Mow the lawn regularly, making sure to raise the mower blades in hot or dry weather.
2. Keep hoeing between rows and borders to stop weeds from rooting.
3. Clean and sharpen tools regularly to prevent disease and stress to plants.
4. Continue to turn your compost heaps to speed up decomposition.
5. Check your mulch and reapply if dry conditions persist to help plants retain moisture during sunny spells.
6. Trim your lawn edges and pull weeds out from between patio stones to keep your garden tidy.

Garden Beds

1. Deadhead blooms on delphiniums, roses, poppies, foxgloves and penstemons to encourage further flowering.
2. Cut back your geraniums and nepeta after flowering to encourage a second flush.
3. Make sure to stake any tall perennials like rudbeckia and helianthus to provide needed support.
4. Now is the time to sow any biennials you want for next spring such as foxglove, wallflowers, sweet william and canterbury bells.
5. Keep a plant diary to keep track of what spring biennials you have planted.

Vegetables

1. Quick summer crops you can still sow include lettuce, rocket, radish, beetroot and spring onions - make sure to keep them hydrated. Harden off and plant out any leeks, winter brassicas and swedes.
2. Make sure to feed tomatoes, chillies and courgettes weekly with fertiliser to boost growth.
3. Harvest your broad beans, peas, courgettes, potatoes, carrots and beetroot.
4. Earth up any celeriac and brassicas growing to stabilise them and protect their roots.

Fruits

1. Continue to harvest strawberries, gooseberries, currants, cherries and early apples as they ripen. Net any remaining soft fruits to protect them from birds.
2. Continue to water your fruiting plants deeply, especially your blueberries and figs.
3. Prune your trained fruit trees to remove any unwanted shoots.
4. Thin fruits on your heavy laden fruit trees to help increase quality of produce.

Flowers

1. Continue deadheading your blooming roses, zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, petunias and marigolds.
2. Cut back flowering perennials after they first flower to promote new growth.
3. Sow hardy annuals for next year like calendula, cornflowers and larkspur.
4. July is the perfect time to get cuttings for propagation - take softwood cuttings of fuchsias, salvias and penstemons.
5. Order any autumn flowering perennials you want to plant in your garden (if you haven’t yet).

Trees & Shrubs

1. Lightly prune early summer flowering shrubs like weigela, philadelphus and deutzia.
2. Cut back any fast growing hedges like privet and hawthorn - but make sure to check for nesting birds first!
3. Deadhead rhododendrons and camellias to direct energy into next year’s buds.
4. Water any recently planted trees and shrubs during dry weather.

Herbs

1. Harvest and dry thyme, oregano, mint and chives before flowering declines.
2. Remove flowers from basil to keep leaves growing.
3. Sow parsley, dill, and coriander for autumn use.
4. Take cuttings of rosemary, sage and mint to propagate.

Greenhouse

1. Open vents daily and use shading during periods of long sunshine.
2. Dampen the floor to increase humidity, especially for your cucumbers and melons.
3. Water tomatoes, chillies, aubergines and cucumbers every day.
4. Remove yellowing leaves and side shoots on tomatoes to improve air circulation
5. Begin to sow autumn crops like winter lettuce, pak choi and mizuna.

Wildlife & Birds

1. Make sure to clean your bird baths regularly and top up with fresh water daily.
2. Leave seed heads on poppies, teasels and sunflowers for birds to enjoy.
3. Create log and rock piles to protect aphid eaters like ladybirds. They will help protect your plants from pests in return (without the need for pesticides!)
4. Use copper frames or tape to deter slugs and snails from your garden beds.

Ponds

1. Continue to remove blanket weed and duckweed from your pond regularly using a stick or net.
2. Avoid disturbing tadpoles and newts by leaving some shady areas of your garden untouched.
3. During dry spells, top up your ponds with rainwater as needed.
4. Thin out oxygenating plants if they become too dominant.
5. Watch for algae blooms. If present, reduce feeding and add barley straw if needed.