Rounding up the garden maintenance jobs for July you need to look after your lawns. They will need some water if it is very dry and a final feed when the ground is damp after a shower. If it is very dry then don’t forget to set your lawn mower blades a little higher so you don’t scalp your lawn.
On the subject of water – this is the time of year to really monitor your water features, especially if you have fish or wildlife in and round them. Duckweed and suchlike need to be regularly removed and any floating dead foliage should be swept off the top of the water. Aquatic plants need to be kept pruned and tidied to keep them healthy. I have to clean out my pond this year and pass some of my much loved fish onto a friend with a bigger pond – they have grown too large for mine. I shall miss them.
When you do any work on your ponds and water features do make sure that frogs and toads can easily get in and out – they are among your best friends when it comes to slug control. Be careful if you must spray with chemicals that there is no drift onto your pond and that you take care of the bees and other helpful insects like ladybirds
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July is a month to watch out for the dreaded Lily Beetle amongst other pests. The scarlet lily beetles look quite spectacular until you see the damage they can do. It caused me immense grief last year to have to dispose of all my lilies which had become infested almost overnight. They were all pot grown so it didn’t do too much damage to the garden as a whole but it was heartbreaking none the less. Sawfly can also attack shrubs such as Berberis and also gooseberries. Do watch out for slugs on damp evenings, it isn’t so much the big ones that you need to worry about as the pesky little ones that lurk under the soil!
The dry weather in July often leads to an upsurge in the ant population which can invade your home as well as your garden so keep an eye open for them and treat accordingly. It also encourages some of the more powdery types of mildew on honeysuckle and roses amongst other. Regular watering of your tomatoes will help prevent blossom end rot and ensure a good crop so it is worth taking a few minutes every day to keep them moist.
Ripening fruits are a magnet for birds so you need to net them – and protect your brassicas and peas from marauding pigeons, they will nip the shoots out of a whole row in seconds.
Greenhouses are especially prone to pests at this time of year so sticky traps are well worth putting out to monitor the health of the green house. You also need to make sure your ventilate your greenhouse well, providing shade if necessary and damping it down when required.
House plants can often suffer in the summer – I like to place mine outside on nice days when it’s not too hot, maybe even leaving them for a day or two especially if there are light showers forecast. The plants seem to thrive on that and it freshens and cleans the leaves giving them a healthy look when they come back indoors.
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