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What To Do In The Garden In July

July 4, 2019 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

The trick with gardening is approaching it as a pleasure rather than a chore.

What To Do In The Garden In July- yellow rose flowers

Crocus rose

I’ve found the best way to do this is to have a daily wander round the garden. Stopping to pinch out the side-shoots on the tomato plants, checking how the buds on the Dahlias are fattening up & what needs tying into it’s support.

It’s also a chance to check for pests & diseases before they cause too much damage. Though I’ve been unable to prevent snails/slugs, from stripping the leaves off most of the marigolds I grew from seed, whose job was to confuse carrot root fly & provide edible flowers.

My gentle wander reminds me how good gardening is for slowing down & putting me in touch with the garden.

Here’s a few specific things to do this month:

Keep dead-heading flowers & picking them to encourage flowers to keep coming. Once the plant produces seeds, there’s no real need for it to carry on flowering. Its main aim is to produce seeds, whilst ours is to stop this & have more flowers.

This is quite exhausting for the plant, so a dose of fertiliser will give it more energy to keep going. Remember Nitrogen (N) promotes green growth & potassium (K) promotes fruit & flowers. Use an organic fertiliser rather than chemical one, its much better for the soil & us.

It’s been very hot & dry here, so watering has been a must. I try to get it done first thing in the morning, so the plants have time to soak it all up before the heat of the day evaporates it. Placing a saucer under plant pots helps a lot, containers dry out very quickly in this weather.

Sweet-peas deserve a special mention. Mine are just on the verge of flowering, I think the intense heat recently, slowed them down. They really need attention every day as the pace of growth in July is fast. They need tying in regularly to keep their stems straight so they look better in a vase. Though I find it impossible to keep them all straight, & a few wayward stems make interesting shapes.

cabbages & kale growing in a vegetable garden

Vegetable garden at a recent Hampton Court Garden Show

brightly coloured stems of Swiss chard

Rainbow chard

What To Do In The Garden In July- freshly picked beetroot

VEGETABLES

Sow more seeds of parsley & coriander for a plentiful supply.

Hard to believe we’ve reached this stage, but July is the last month for sowing beetroot. Late varieties of carrots can be planted up to next month.

It’s best to sow salad seeds in the afternoon, avoiding the heat of mid-day, & giving them a better chance of germinating. Mulching the soil either side of the row helps to keep them moist.

I’ve ordered a few vegetable plug plants for the first time. It seems like a great way to fill any gaps, & plant vegetables like kale & winter cabbage for crops later in the year.

July in the garden is a busy time, we can appreciate the fruits of our labour for the last few months.

Jill

all photos: jill Anderson

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What to do in your garden in September, hedge, www.growingnicely.co.uk, HedgeWhat to do in your garden in September Covent Garden Flower Market London, wedding flowers,Friday gardening favourites. What To Do In The Garden In August. What To Do In The Garden In March
Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Plants Tagged With: growing sweet peas, what to do in the garden in July

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Comments

  1. Julie quinn says

    July 5, 2019 at 8:11 am

    I started to read your lovely blog and went straight out with my snippers and did some gentle slow deadheading. So good to slow and down and notice all the tiny things in the garden.

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      July 11, 2019 at 8:11 am

      Hi Julie, its good to be reminded to slow down, I have to remind myself often, it makes gardening so much more enjoyable.

      Reply

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
-
One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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