July gardening time is rapidly approaching. So it’s nearly time to do some necessary things in your garden.
(Courtesy: Pam Stotts at flickr.com)
No doubt you have put a lot of time and effort into your garden. Now is the time you reap the benefits. The plants are blooming and the vegetables are ready to be picked to serve for dinner.
But it’s not just the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You still need to do some things to assure that your July gardening will last. Here are a few tips to keep you busy.
July gardening is the time to remove the wilted blooms and flower heads from your beds. This activity will help to encourage the plants to produce more blooms and extend the blooming season.
Watering your plants is an essential part of July gardening. It is advised that you water the whole garden thoroughly twice a week and even more if it is very hot where you live. It is best to water at the base of the plant, not on the foliage. If you make a pool of water around each individual plant, you will be sure that the water will do directly to the root.
If you had planned to raise summer flowers using the seed of existing ones, then now is the time to start collecting the seed. If you delay doing this for too long, the seeds may drop into the soil. If you observe seeds that are not quite ready to drop, then place a paper bag over the seed head and tie it around the stem.
If your lawn isn’t looking quite right, then take this last chance to spread special lawn fertilizer over it. That should assure that you’d have a healthy green lawn for the rest of the summer.
Harvest any fruit and vegetables that may be ripe.
July is a good time to pick herbs and freeze them. This will assure that you have plenty to use throughout the year. If when you chop herbs, you have a little left over, you can freeze them in an ice cube tray with water.
It is also time to bite the bullet and begin your assault on weeds. To be successful in defeating the pesky pest, you need to keep up the assault to assure that they won’t be around in the long run. Some gardeners have been known to use a hoe to till the soil around plants. Simply skim just beneath the surface of the soil to chop the heads of emerging weed seedlings. Do this when the weather is dry. It will be much easier.
July is the time that suckers start to sprout from grafted rose rootstocks. They can grow aggressively through the summer if you don’t nip them in the bud. Simply snip them off at their base.
Finally, be vigilante during July gardening and keep your eyes open for pests on the plants. It’s best to get them early.
(Source: womansweekly.com)
