The Garden Magazine

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

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.

Once you have the vegetable garden under control it’s time to look at the more decorative aspects of your garden – the flowers and trees.  One of the things I love doing is pruning – sometimes I can be a little over enthusiastic, but generally most things will benefit from a good ‘haircut’ as my Dad would have said.

Hedges need regular clipping – especially if they are fast growing varieties and you will need to trim any shaped hedges or elaborate topiary pieces in the garden too so that they look their best.  Wisteria is something that grows well around here and that will need any excess growth taking off if you want it to be at its best next year, as will your deciduous magnolias.  One job that you mustn’t neglect either is to cut out any shoots on your variegated shrubs that have reverted back to single colour.  I used to have a running battle with a fuchsia which had self seeded – but it throws flowers in two distinct colours representing each of it’s parents, in this case the fuchsia won and I just let it do it’s own thing now.

It’s important to apply regular feeds to your containers plant and any summer bedding if you have them.  Dead-heading is also an ongoing task to keep everything looking good.  One job I will be doing this week is dividing up my Irises now that they have finished flowering.  I have some that are almost black and I want to use them as an accent colour in a couple of place in the garden.  Whilst I am planting those I shall probably also plant my crocus – they can wait a little if need be.

The kitchen garden is one of my favourite places at this time of year – there is so much going on that it hardly seems like garden maintenance, more like a journey of discovery.  You never know quite what is going to be ready to harvest and what culinary delights you can come up with!

Soft fruits are at their best so there are lots to harvest, currants, raspberries (my personal favourite) and gooseberries.  You need to think about cutting back side shoots on gooseberries and all varieties of currant, and don’t forget to remove the fruited stems from your summer raspberries either.  Strawberry beds need to be tidied up once they have finished fruiting and it is a good idea to thin out apples if you don’t want the tree to struggle.

July is one of the best times of year for regularly fresh veg from the garden too, and by regular cropping you will keep everything going, particularly courgettes, peas and bean.  Plenty of water is essential too, even a couple of dry days can make a difference, especially if it is as windy as it has been here.   This is probably as late as you can leave it for the last sowing of runner beans.  My tomatoes have not done so well this year but it is finally time to remove the shoots from the cordon grown ones so that the four trusses develop well.

In terms of sowing, it is time to turn your thoughts to the autumn and winter vegetables with sowings of spring cabbage carrots, winter brassicas, leeks, spinach and Chinese leaves in their many forms.  I’m going to try some winter salads this year and see how they go.  You should never rest on your laurels where your kitchen garden is concerned – always think a few months ahead and make sure you have a constant stream of harvestable crops coming through.

April is definitely a month to be doing things with your Fruit and Vegetables.  We have had some very sharp frosts still so you need to protect the blossom of your stoned fruit trees such as Apricots, Peaches and Nectarines.  Whilst on the subject of fruit trees don’t forget to prune your Cherry and Plum trees once the leaf buds have cracked open.

You can start planting your Potatoes - remembering again to protect any early shoots from frost.  If you didn’t plant Asparagus last month that can go in along with root crops like Carrots, Turnips and Kohlrabi.  Salad crops such as  Spring Onions, Swiss Chard, Lettuce as well as Brassicas can be started now too.  I like to get some herbs such as Basil and Chives going to.  You will need to protect early sowings with fleece and/or polythene if you are still getting frosts.

In the greenhouse I am busy with Peppers, Aubergines (one of my favourites!) and Cucumbers - potting on your Tomatoes can be done as well.   I’m just beginning to increase the amount of ventilation in the greenhouse now that the days are warmer but do remember to close up at night or you could lose a lot.  I shall be doing some softwood cuttings from my beloved Fuschias as well as repotting and feeding some of the house plants.  My Orchids are doing particularly well at the moment and I am extremely pleased with the way they are responding to almost total neglect!