Gardening chores for July

What to focus on, as your gardening chores for July:

1. Most importantly, ensure that all plants in containers are well-watered when the weather is warm or if it is windy.

2. Continue dead-heading all flowering plants to ensure continuous flowering. Apply a liquid feed to perennials, bedding and container plants.

3. Apply a Summer feed to the lawn to promote a lush green blade and mow as frequently as every week for the best quality.

4. While the weather is dry, apply a preserver to wooden items such as furniture, fences, decking and sheds.

5. Clear any algae, blanketweed and leaf/flower debris from ponds as well as topping them up regularly with fresh water.

6. Harvest vegetables such as courgettes before they reach the marrow stage. Now is the time to enjoy the benefits of all your hard work…harvest time begins.

7.  Some of your evergreens and hedges will need pruning or trimming to encourage more density.

8. Wisteria will need their Summer pruning towards the end of the month – cut back to five or six leaves.

9. Keep pinching off the side shoots of tomatoes; feed with Tomorite and ensure your watering is consistent to prevent any blossom end rot. Keep on the look out for signs of blight, as your first treatment for blight is traditionally done from mid to late July with Bordeaux mixture.

10. Now that the phenomenon of ‘June drop’ (where fruit trees tend to drop a portion of their crop) has occurred in fruit trees such as apples, the fruits left over can be further thinned out to ensure you get fewer bigger fruit.

Happy gardening!