July gardening tips

Early July

When sowing seeds water the bottom of the drill, sow seeds and cover with dry soil. This maintains moisture levels around the seeds for a longer period.

Cut back straggly violas to encourage new shoots, Use trimmings for cuttings.

Water and ventilate the greenhouse regularly.

Take clematis cuttings. Conventionally these are taken by cutting the stems into sections between the leaf joints but I find that they also root when cuttings are taken at the leaf joints too.

Prune plums, olives, fruiting and ornamental cherries now. Treat large cuts with wound paint but do it straightaway or it will not be effective.

Prune and shape bay trees. They will tolerate fairly severe cutting back now.

Mid July

Keep camellias and magnolias moist at all times from now until early October. This is an essential aid to the setting of next year’s blooms. Giving them a couple of handfuls of sulphate of potash now helps as well.

Trim hedges including conifer and other evergreen hedges.

Be careful with water – early morning and late evening are the best watering times.

If you have slug problems morning is better. There is no need to water the lawn.

Take particular care of planted containers. Keep them fed, watered and dead headed. I find using a more potash orientated fertilizer like Phostrogen is good.

Cut down herbaceous geraniums and poppies as they stop blooming to encourage new shoots.

Give roses a boost with a dressing of rose fertilizer.

If greenfly attack water lily foliage, just sink the leaves under the water for a few hours.

Keep feeding and training tomatoes and other greenhouse fruiting plants.

Try growing oriental vegetables, like Chinese cabbage, this is the best month for sowing.

Sow beetroot, Florence fennel, Swiss chard, raddichio, and turnips in the vegetable garden.

Spray potato foliage with Vitax Copper Mixture or one of the plant invigorators if attacks of potato blight are likely. You could also try using soluble aspirin two tablets per gallon of water sprayed over the foliage two weeks.

Prune summer fruiting raspberries after harvest by removing old, fruited canes.

Air layer straggly houseplants, usually near the top, to create a new plant.

Pinch out the tips of unwanted grape shoots after one leaf, to concentrate the plant’s energy on fruiting.

Take conifer cuttings from stems that are characteristic of the variety.

Late July

Thin out oxygenating plants in pools as they can cause problems if over abundant.

Pinch out the tops of outdoor tomato plants once four trusses of fruit have formed.

Sow parsley for winter use.

Onions, garlic and shallots are ready to harvest when foliage turns yellow and bends over.

Sow autumn / winter salads, e.g. claytonia, salad rocket, corn salad, land cress, and winter hardy white Lisbon onions.

Cut the old foliage off strawberry plants after harvest. New growth soon appears.

Give them some sulphate of potash too.

Take fuchsia cuttings to be trained as standards. Lantana, golden privet and elaeagnus are also suitable for training in this fashion.

Take semi – ripe cuttings from most shrubs – they will root easily now.

To encourage the production of plenty of embryo figs for ripening next year, pinch out the growing points of the new shoots once they have made five leaves.