July Gardening Advice and Tips
July in the Garden: Embrace the Summer Bloom!
July typically brings the warmest weather of the year, making it the perfect time to step back and enjoy the vibrant results of your hard work in the garden. Your plants will continue to look their best for longer with a little ongoing care. Remember to regularly deadhead spent blooms to encourage more flowers, keep new plants, bushes, and trees well-watered (consider using dishwater for an eco-friendly approach!), and stay on top of those pesky weeds with a bit of hoeing.
Key Garden Tasks for July
Here's a handy list of specific jobs to keep your garden thriving this month:
Clematis: Keep an eye out for any signs of clematis wilt. Early detection can help save your plants.
Watering: Containers and newly planted specimens will likely need consistent watering throughout July, especially during dry spells.
- Cuttings: July is an ideal time for taking semi-ripe cuttings from several plants. Look for healthy, current year's growth that's just starting to become woody.
- Aucuba Japonica
- Evergreens
- Gaura Lindheimeri
- Penstemons
- Salvia
- Wallflowers ('Erysimum Walberton's Fragrant Sunshine' & 'Bowles Mauve')
- Ballota Pseudodictamnus: For this lovely plant, take cuttings from short, non-flowering side shoots and root them in a propagator for best results.
Buddleia: Your Buddleias should be in full bloom, attracting beautiful butterflies and hawk moths. Deadhead them regularly to promote a continuous display of flowers and, importantly, to prevent them from self-seeding excessively, as they can spread quite readily.
Euonymus: Give your Euonymus a light prune now to maintain its shape and encourage dense growth.
Fuchsia:
- Take softwood cuttings from vigorous stems, around 6-8cm long. You can easily root these in water on a sunny windowsill before potting them up and bringing them indoors for the winter.
- For bushier Fuchsia plants, pinch out the growing tips of well-established specimens.
- Garlic: Your garlic is ready for harvesting when the leaves begin to turn yellow.
- Iris 'Strathmore': Now is a good time to divide your Iris 'Strathmore' clumps to rejuvenate them and create new plants.
- Cherry Laurels: If your Cherry Laurels need pruning, go ahead, but always check for active bird nests first to avoid disturbing wildlife.
Sowing Seeds Directly:
- Field Poppy: Sow these beautiful wildflowers directly into the soil now.
- Foxgloves: You can sow foxglove seeds directly into the soil or in seed trays outdoors. Growing some in trays gives you extra plants to fill any gaps in your borders.
- Yellow Rattle: Sow this fascinating plant directly into the soil.
Salvia: Once your Salvia finishes its first flush of flowers, prune it back to new growth. You'll be rewarded with a fresh wave of blooms in about five weeks!
Enjoy the beauty and bounty of your garden this July!
