Garden Chores by Month: July

As summer starts to get into full swing, now is a great time to start tending to your garden. While most of us don’t love gardening chores, they are essential if you want a flourishing outdoor space. July can be especially important in caring for your garden as the warmer weather means that some plants may need extra care and attention. Here are some of the top garden chores you should keep in mind during the month of July:

• Watering – July is usually a hot and dry month which can leave your plants feeling thirsty. Make sure to water your garden regularly, ensuring it’s getting the hydration it needs. If you have any areas that need more moisture than others, such as shadier patches or container plants, then consider giving them a light mist every few days instead. 

• Pruning – July is the perfect time for pruning roses and fruit trees so get out those secateurs! Pruning ensures your plants are strong and healthy and encourages further growth. You may also want to check over your shrubs too; prune back any wayward branches and shape them into the desired style. 

• Deadheading – It's common practice to deadhead flowers after they have bloomed, removing spent flowers so that they won't take energy away from new blooms coming up. This helps create an overall more pleasing aesthetic as well as increasing air circulation in flowerbeds to reduce disease-causing fungus spores in damp conditions. 

• Mulching – Use mulch around beds, borders and container plants to help maintain even soil moisture levels while keeping weeds at bay and locking in nutrients where necessary. Mulch should be applied liberally but evenly with particular attention given to newly planted items so that they are protected from drying out quickly during periods of intense sunshine or heatwaves. 

These are just some of the basic gardening tasks for July but there’s no harm in giving your garden a little extra TLC too! Don’t forget about harvesting vegetables like tomatoes, beans or cucumbers which will surely be ready for picking by now and deadheading all those fading perennials could really freshen up the look of your garden space.