Garden Maintenance: JULY
Top gardening jobs for July
1. Liquid feed your plants (especially those in pots and containers).
Border plants will enjoy a quick acting liquid feed before they bloom.
Combined with cutting out fading blooms, dead heading etc you may be able to
revive tired displays and prolong flowering; this is especially effective
for pot plants and flower borders.
2. Water your plants early in the
morning or late in the evening to avoid waste through evaporation and leaves
being scorched on hot days. Use recycled water wherever possible.
3. Keep
new plants well watered until they are established; they need far more water
than you think.
4. Have you got a compost bin yet? Its the easiest way to
recycle!
5. Remember to regularly clear fallen leaves as this will help
prevent plant diseases.
6. Cut lawns regularly but letting the grass grow
a little longer than usual will help retain moisture during dry spells.
School holidays start soon:
-
Is your garden child friendly?
Top Tip: Would you like your garden to have colour during the winter as well? Time to think about planting some winter flowering plants.
Lawn Care
- Mow regularly, except when the weather is very dry. You can prevent
your lawn getting stressed in dry weather by cutting it higher than normal
(this will help the lawn retain moisture).
- Don't worry about brown
patches; it will recover when the rain returns! If you have children/pets
then your lawn will be better able to cope with the extra ware if you don't
cut it too short. This is where a professional mower with height adjusters
is so useful!
- Do you have yellow patches on your lawn? If they contain
small pink/red strands, then you may have a problem with red-thread in the
lawn. Red-thread is a fungal disease and results when nitrogen is washed out
of the soil.
- Grass feeds on Nitrogen so apply a nitrogen-rich
fertiliser and the damage should soon disappear.
- Warm summer weather
can mean a heavy infestation of ants. Unsightly ant hills in your lawn can
be removed by simply brushing them out on a dry day. Do this before mowing
as the extra resistance of the ant hills could damage your mower!
- Dig
out isolated weeds or spot-treat them with a paint-on weed killer.
Trees, shrubs and climbers
- Remember to help climbers and ramblers wrap around their supports as
they grow. (this is called tieing-in).
- A good looking tree has one
stem/trunk. Sometimes you get 'suckers'; new shoots growing from the base;
cut these off as they divert energy from the rest of the plant and look
ugly!
- Prune deciduous magnolias if necessary; unusual as deciduous
trees (meaning the drop their leaves in the winter) are often pruned when
they are dormant i.e. In the winter.
- Prune June-flowering shrubs such
as Philadelphus and Weigela after flowering.
- Remember, you prune for
shape, to remove dead or overcrowded branches and to encourage new growth.
- Take cuttings from shrubs such as Choisya, Hydrangea and Philadelphus. The
cuttings should be semi-ripe (meaning that the cutting should not be woody
but still green and fleshy).
- Like Clematis? Make more by taking
internodal cuttings - taking a section of stem sections above and below a
leaf, rather than cutting the stem immediately below a leaf joint.
Flowers
- Prop-up tall perennial plants to stop them breaking in the wind and
losing what is often a short bloom anyway!
- Mulching borders can help
retain moisture and keep down the weeds - this will save you a lot of work
and leave your gardener to do more necessary work in your garden!
-
Autumn-flowering bulbs, such as autumn crocuses, Colchicum, Sternbergia,
Amaryllis and Nerine, can be planted now.
- Cut back delphiniums and
geraniums after the first flush of flowers to encourage a second flowering
period then feed them to support the new growth.
- Poppy's and
love-in-a-mist (among others; typically wild varieties) will produce seeds
that you can collect for planting later in the year.
- Divide clumps of
iris.
- Weeds are best dealt with when they are actually growing; you can
see them and many of the weed killers depend upon weeds being in active
growth. Digging out the weeds will work but a weed killer can be more
practical for large areas. It may actually cost less and be preferred by
your gardener to use weed killer; buying in bulk, your gardener can probably
supply weed killer cheaper than if you were to buy a squeezy bottle.
Greenhouse and houseplants
- Damp down greenhouses on hot days to increase humidity and stop it
getting too hot.
- Any cuttings taken so far can be grown on in the
greenhouse. Fuschias for example.
Ponds
- Watch the water level of ponds and water features topping up as
necessary.
- Aquatic plants can also benefit from feeding, dead heading
and removing fading foliage to prolong their display and keep them healthy
and looking tidy just like your flower bed. Cut back any pond plants that
are getting out of hand.
- Think about pond hygiene; pull out blanket
weed (leaving it at the side of the pond to allow beneficial insects to
crawl back in). Does the bottom of the pond need some attention to remove a
build up of debris?
Soft Landscaping
- Paint wooden structures now while the weather is dry. Fence panels are
expensive so remember to protect them with a preservative.
- Start /
build a compost heap if not already done so.
- Fit a water butt.
-
Mulch borders to help retain moisture in dry weather.
