The Garden in July: Things to do this Month

• Slow down and give you and your plants a rest from the heat
• Give plants a mid-season feeding or side dressing, to get them through to the fall
• Keep tabs on rainfall and water as needed
• Stay ahead of weeds
• Replace mulch as needed
• Check garden centers for mark downs on remaining plants
• Keep lawns at about 3", to protect from summer heat
• Keep up on deadheading
• Shear back spent annuals by 1/3
• Focus on heat and rain resistant flowers like: coleus, hibiscus, melampodium, pentas, plumbago, portulaca and zinnias
• Do a final pinching by mid-July, of fall blooming flowers like mums and asters
• Harvest vegetables daily
• Find a Plant a Row for the Hungry program to donate to the Food Bank
• Reseed beans and lettuce
• Start fall crops of peas and cole crops
• Time to dig the garlic, onions and potatoes
• Treat yourself to some new potatoes. Carefully loosen the soil under your plants to find a few small potatoes to harvest
• Plant a cover crop in bare spots in the vegetable garden
• Check berries regularly to harvest before the birds get them!
• Clean up fallen fruits under trees
• Check fruit trees for water sprouts (branches growing straight up from limbs) and remove
• Prune summer flowering shrubs as soon as the blossoms fade
• Hold off on planting until the fall. If you must transplant, keep well watered.