Garden Chores for July

It's July and you don't know what to do.  It's hot, the spring plantings are going to seed and it's time to move on.   Here's an easy list of ideas:

1.  Fill your empty spots with fall plantings.  Beets, carrots, beans, chard, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, late cabbage, cauliflower, late beets, celery, turnips, radishes, spinach and others.

2.  Dig in plenty of compost in your empty spaces.

3.  Check the number of frostless days left and plan accordingly.

4.  Mulch, mulch, mulch.  We are going into the dry part of the season, conserve all the water you can.  Mulch will keep down your weeds and lessen the amount your soil changes temperature.  Mulch will also keep ripened fruit from going bad on the ground.

5.  Get your canning equipment together.  Stage your jars, wash everything and clear your shelves for storage.

6.  Renovate your June bearing strawberry beds.

7.  Raspberries - remove 3-4 inches of shoot tips on new growth to encourage branching and cut out canes that just finished fruiting.

8.  Mulch around fruit bearing trees.

9.  Fertilize and dead head flowers to promote new blooms.

10.  Harvest herb leaves for drying before they start to bloom.

11.  Stop harvesting asparagus and rhubarb.

12.  Water at least weekly during dry spells.

13.  Keep tomatoes irrigated regularly to reduce blossom end rot.

14.  It's a good time to plant delphinium, daisies, forget-me-knots, pansies, lupines, dianthus, wall flowers, snapdragons, columbines, poppies, and evening primrose.

15.  Deadhead your roses

16.  Prune wisteria back hard.

17.  Feed all perennials, shrubs, and trees.

18.  Plant rhubarb, shallots, egyptian walking onions, and fava beans for harvest next season. (I usually wait for later due to frequent late winters here in St. Louis)

19.  Transplant strawberries that have rooted from runners.


Here's another excellent blog about what to do now:  A Way To Garden