Jobs for July

The garden in July is very rewarding as we start to harvest produce from the vegetable garden and summer containers and baskets fill out and come into full bloom. It’s a month of tending and feeding plants and also a time to enjoy the garden as summer sets in.

Summer hanging baskets and planted containers are at their best in mid-summer and in order to keep the plants healthy and flowering until early autumn it is essential to water on a regular basis. Feed also with a high potash fertiliser to encourage more flower buds to develop.

Blueberries grow very easily in large pots of ericaceous compost and at this time of the year the fruits will be starting to swell and ripen. To prevent birds taking the berries cover the plant before the berries start to change colour from green to purple.

July is when we pick the first of the season’s runner beans and to keep the plants flowering and producing tender pods through the summer it is important to pick the beans little and often. The more you pick, the more new beans the plants will produce.

Roses are looking good at the moment and will benefit from a feed to give them a boost in growth. Sprinkle a little fertiliser such as Growmore around the base of the plant and work it into the soil with a how. To keep roses flowering for a long period, remove faded flowers on a regular basis.

Peppers are very popular at the moment and they grow well in containers in a greenhouse or outside in a sunny position. To help the fruits develop and ripen later in the summer, feed once a week with a high potash feed such as Tomato fertiliser.

Early summer flowering shrubs such as philadelphus and deutzia that have finished flowering can be given a light trim if needed. The aim is to prune out some of the older stems that have flowered to help maintain a good shaped shrub. It is on the new shoots made during the summer that flowers will be produced next year.

Through the summer continue to sow small amount of lettuce seed for a continued supply of fresh salad leaves.