Gardening Jobs To Do In July

It’s July.  This is an all-out war as far as gardening goes. There are tons to do, and tonnes to harvest. Here is where we reap the benefits and the produce starts to land on the plate. Even though this is a really busy month on the gardening calendar, take the time to sit back and enjoy all the hard work you have done.

Think about what has worked, what hasn’t, and what you might change next year. make notes so you don’t forget.  You may be wise to take some photos too as when the cold months are here it’s hard to remember.

Harvest Time Is Here!

15 Jobs to do this month

• Harvest first early potatoes
• Mulch To Improve Soil
• Remove the main head of Calabrese
• Turn Your Compost To let Air In
• Keep Onions Well Watered
• Hand pollinate Courgette, Marrow and pumpkin flowers
• Remove shoots that have emerged from the base of trees
• Tidy topiary plants
• Sow Wall Flowers
• In Dry Spells, Don’t Forget To Water Perennials
• Harvest Annual herbs
• Keep Brassicas Well-Watered.
• Keep Filling And Emptying Those Slug Traps
• Feed Regularly (Weekly)
• Water and feed Hanging Baskets

Harvest first early potatoes

July marks the beginning of the potato harvests, Whether you grow them in the ground or containers, first early potatoes are really welcomed. You may have just run out of the stored potatoes from last year.

Digging out those small tubers is like finding gold nuggets for the gardener. Those jewels glistening in the sun, suggest beautiful salad potatoes to follow. Use a fork instead of a spade to dig them out and ensure to leave room to prevent stabbing them. Even better would have been if you grew them in containers.

Mulch to improve soil structure

Mulching your soil has many benefits. It is one of the most important time-saving things you can do for your garden. You can use compost, leafmould, straw, manure, or even membranes to mulch. Here are 5 reasons you should mulch.

1. Adds organic matter to the soil. This increases soil fertility
2. Retains moisture
3. Keeps the root zone cool in summer
4. Stops soil eroding
5. Suppresses weeds from growing

Remove the main head of calabrese

Too many gardeners cut the head off their calabrese and then dig up the plants. This month you need to harvest your heads as they will likely bolt. But once you have harvested, do not remove the plants as these will put out lots of secondary growth, in the form of small florets.

Turn Your Compost To let Air In

This could well be the last time you need to turn this load of compost. From this point on the garden will create lots of green matter. It is important to not add this to your existing pile but to start a new pile. For a detailed guide on composting, check this blog out

Keep Onions Well Watered

It’s not getting hot, right at the time, your onions are really swelling. If they are not watered properly they will bolt. Last month and this month is the time that you cannot let up on this task. Mulching around them will also help retain water to stop evaporation. so consider this to save you time.

Hand pollinate Courgette

Certain crops like Courgette, Marrows, Squash, and gourds would all benefit from hand pollination. This is for a number of reasons. It ensures good production, but more importantly, if you intend to keep your own seed from heritage varieties then this is the only way to keep the strain perfect without cross-contamination

Tidy topiary plants

Topiary should not be pruned before the end of June or the beginning of July. The reason is the new sappy growth is very tender and can bruise when being cut. This makes the bush look unsightly. By this month the leaves have hardened and turned leathery. Now is a perfect time to prune, and this can also be done again at the end of summer.

Water and feed Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets dry out very quickly this time of the year, and by now they have usually used up most of the food placed into the compost. So it’s a perfect time to start feeding and watering on a more consistent basis. Feed twice a week throughout summer and water daily. If you want to see some tips on how to make your baskets retain moisture check the video out below.

Some other jobs you can do now

• Remove the bottoms leaves of cordon tomatoes
• Trim edges of lawns using trimming shears and half-moon edger
• Hoe Hoe Hoe
• Water trees on a regular basis
• Keep deadheading roses
• Pinch out tomato side shoots
• Keep cutting sweat peas to prevent them from going to seed
• Pick flowers for drying
• Spray roses with fungicide to prevent disease
• Mow wildflower meadows
• Layer Clematis
• Take cuttings of carnations
• Deadhead Lupins
• Introduce red spider mite predators
• Train Tie And Feed Cucumbers
• Move Citrus Trees Outside
• Help Tomatoes Set Fruit by hand pollinating
• Pinch out shoots on Aubergines
• Raise indoor humidity by damping down the green house floor
• Open Vents And Doors On Greenhouses
• Refill watering cans and allow to warm up before use
• Thin bunches of grapes
• Give Squash a high potash feed
• Clip bay to shorten side shoots
• Prune side shoots of figs back to 4 leaves
• Top up the water level in your pond
• Apply fertiliser to your lawn
• Look out for leaf mining caterpillars
• Use drip systems to keep Pots Baskets and Containers watered
• Prioritise your watering
• Cut down broad beans
• Tie in new raspberry canes
• Net to protect fruit from the birds
• Prune back summer fruiting Raspberries after they fruit
• Chop back chives to revive the plants
• Weed borders and beds on dry days
• Scoop duck weed from ponds, allow sitting on the side for a few hours before composting
• Order Autumn flowering crocus bulbs ready to plant next month
• Stake your borders
• Save seed from Alpines
• Dry Lavender flowers
• Make new pinks from old ones
• Divide Bearded Irises
• Make comfrey feed

As I said earlier in this post, This month is very busy in the garden. BUT. It also is one of the months that has the most beautiful too. Don’t forget to take the time to enjoy it.

If you have enjoyed this article, check out some of my other articles and come back each month for the jobs for that month. If you got value please consider subscribing to my blog to be notified each time I release new content like this. You can do that easily and free by completing the blog signup form in the right-hand sidebar