The summer month of July brings a host of gardening tasks, from sowing and harvesting to watering and tending to propagating and dividing. We have summarized the most important gardening tips for July for you.
Harvest vegetables in the kitchen garden
If you sowed carrots in the spring and they have reached the typical size for the variety, you can harvest bunch carrots in July. The beets are particularly sweet and crunchy at this time, but contain a lower level of aroma-forming essential oils. Store the vegetables for only a short time and they are best stored without foliage in the refrigerator.
Radish, radish and kohlrabi are also ready for harvest in July. Since they are less tolerant of summer heat and quickly form cottony or woody cells in dry conditions, it’s best to harvest the vegetables earlier rather than too late. For celeriac, you can also start the harvest. By pulling some out of the ground now, you thin out the rows and improve growing conditions for the remaining vegetable plants. The still small celery tubers give, for example, vegetable soups a special flavor and can be used ideally as a soup vegetable.
Sow lamb’s lettuce in the open bed
Lamb’s lettuce feels at home in a sunny garden spot and thrives in almost any soil that is weed-free and not too dry. For a fall harvest, sow tender-leaved varieties in the garden month of July. Wintering outdoors, on the other hand, is recommended for frost-hardy and mildew-resistant cultivars.
Sow the seeds in rows about 10 to 15 centimeters apart at a depth of just under one centimeter. Cover the seeds with some soil and press them well. To favor germination, it is recommended to keep the bed evenly moist and water it at regular intervals.
Sow parsley
In cool weather, parsley is a reluctant germinator. July, on the other hand, offers pleasantly warm temperatures, so sowing seeds this month is best. Plant the seeds in a semi-shaded garden spot, 10 to 15 inches apart in rows and about one inch deep. After sowing, keep the seedbed moist at all times and water the soil at regular intervals until the small seedlings are visible.
Sowing bush beans
For bush beans, July is considered the last sowing date. As an ideal follow-up crop to kohlrabi and early potatoes, you should sow the vegetable plants now at the latest. However, avoid beds where peas or beans were planted last year.
It is advisable to sow the seeds in furrows with a depth of between three and five centimeters. Cover the seed only thinly with soil and wait for germination before completely closing the grooves. Once the shallow-rooted bush beans show their first flowering, they require regular watering to form numerous fruits.
Prune faded perennials
By July, some perennials have already faded. To avoid seed formation, which is a hassle for the plants, you should remove the old flowering shoots now. While sun eye and phlox prefer only cutting out wilted panicles, partial or complete pruning is recommended for lady’s mantle, catmint, Caucasus forget-me-not and stork’s bill. In this way, you stimulate the perennials to a beautiful new growth and may even expect some of them to bloom again.
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Cut back ground cover
If you have planted ground covers in spring, they will be happy about a strong pruning in July. This will stimulate the branching of St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), ivy (Hedera helix) or dwarf medlar (Cotoneaster). In this way, you accelerate the formation of a dense carpet through which hardly any weeds grow.
Propagate blue cushions
Propagating bluecissus (Aubrieta) by cuttings or division is difficult to implement, especially since the latter rot easily. If you still want to propagate the plants, it is recommended to spread a mixture of compost or bark humus and sand.
Once the plants have finished flowering, spread the mixture between the pads and then water the plants. Fresh young shoots will form on the covered root sections if you provide a moist, but not wet, climate. In late summer, you can separate the young shoot from the mother plant and relocate the young plant to the desired location.
Propagate carnations
In summer, carnation lovers can propagate the beautiful plants with cuttings. For this project, cut flowerless shoot tips with a length of ten centimeters and remove the lower leaves of your cuttings. To encourage rooting, place each shoot in a pot of growing soil. By keeping the soil moist at all times and giving your offspring a place on a sunny windowsill, you will stimulate root formation and soon be able to transplant your carnations to the desired location.
Propagate climbing plants
Climbing plants such as clematis or blue vine can be propagated by cuttings in summer. For this purpose, select a vigorous shoot with the bark slightly nicked in the center. Do not separate the shoot from the mother plant, but guide it through a pot of growing medium so that the nicked area is completely covered with substrate. Then guide the shoot tip vertically upwards with the help of a stick.
Either place the propagation pot next to the mother plant in the bed or weigh it down with pebbles, for example, so that it does not tip over. By late summer, roots will form around the wounding cut, so you can separate your cutting from the mother plant. The young climbing plant can then be planted in the desired location.
Divide daffodils
If you would like to propagate daffodils in your garden, you can carefully dig up the clumps in July and then divide them. From the mother bulb, separate any daughter bulbs that are outside the common outer skin. Towards the end of September, the bulbs can be planted out again and enrich your garden with new daffodils. Until planting, the bulbs can be stored in a dark box, which you fill with moist sand beforehand.
Last fertilizer for roses
In July, your roses will receive the last fertilizer gift of the year. This way, the individual branches have enough time to mature before the cold winter months. If the day holds no rain, water the fertilizer carefully so that it can soak into the soil and root zone. Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, should be lightly raked into the soil so that the soil organisms can decompose the substances and provide them as food for the roses.
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Water the lawn, kitchen garden, ornamental garden and orchard regularly
Summer holds some dry spells, some of which last for long periods of time. Since grass plants consist of a high proportion of water, they need adequate watering. Without it, the lawn quickly shows burns and can suffer permanent damage.
However, the kitchen garden, ornamental garden and orchard are also happy to receive regular watering, which you can implement either manually or automatically. As a rule of thumb, it is better to water the plants less frequently, but with a larger amount of water. By making sure that the water soaks deep into the soil, you encourage your plants to grow deeper roots and thus protect them from drying out quickly.
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Fish algae out of the garden pond
During the summer months, you should keep a particularly close eye on your garden pond. High temperatures and strong sunlight favor strong algae growth, which is additionally driven by an increased supply of nutrients.
Aquatic plants such as hornwort, frogbit, needle cress and sea anemone slow down the formation of algae. They bind nutrients and additionally enrich the water with oxygen. Brooks and water features also help to aerate the pond and also reduce algae formation. If the algae have become rampant, however, it is advisable to regularly fish them off the pond surface with a rake or a landing net.
Sink water lilies
If you would like to enrich your garden pond with water lilies, both spring and summer are ideal times. However, you should not sink the plants freshly placed in the plant baskets directly to the final water depth.
Even varieties that are intended for deep water initially feel more comfortable in shallow pond areas. These warm up more quickly, making it easier for the water lilies to grow. After the first new leaves appear, you can gradually move the roses to the deeper pond zones and slowly sink them to the final depth.
