July
Other Jobs Around The Garden This July
Use water butts instead of tap water as often as you can when watering your plants.
Keep bird baths topped up in hot water.
Plant floating pond plants, such as water lilies, in still water away from splashing fountains.
Water patio plant perennials and baskets thoroughly in hot weather. Continue to feed them with a balanced liquid fertiliser every 2 to 4 weeks.
Terracotta pots are prone to evaporation so dampen the pot down to keep roots inside cool and damp.
Capture seed heads from dandelions and other weeds. Collect them before they get chance to release their seeds and spread throughout your garden.
Remove floating blanket weed from your pond plants by twirling it around a stick or garden cane. Before composting it, pile the weed close to the pond for a few hours so any displaced creatures can crawl back into the water.
Prevent slugs attacking your young plants by using pest control. For container plants apply copper tape.
Look after your aphid eaters – ladybirds, hoverflies and lacewings feast on greenfly and blackfly so it’s worth protecting them.
Top Tip:
Water the soil around the base of plants rather than the foliage. Make ‘pools’ around individual plants so that the water is directed straight too the roots where it’s needed, use an auto-watering collar, or set up an automated drip irrigation system.
This Month's Key Tips
- Water plants if dry daily, but be water-wise.
- Deadhead bedding plants and flowering perennials.
- Clear algae, blanket weed and debris from ponds.
- Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed.
- Plant second cropping potatoes now to give you new potatoes for Christmas.
