GARDEN BLOG

July Gardening Tips

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  • Learn and follow any drought restrictions in place for your community or area
  • Deeply water all your summer annuals because summer heat can wilt them
  • Fill in bare spaces with summer – fall flowers including Alyssum, Cosmos, Petunia and Zinnia
  • Insect pests proliferate during hot weather and drought. Treat as populations increase to noticeable amounts.
  • Fertilize citrus and water in thoroughly
  • When temperatures rise, the water needs for fruiting plants can double or triple.  Add a deep layer of mulch underneath fruit trees and other fruiting plants
  • Harvest vegetables at their peak flavor Summer Squash and Zucchini are ripe when their skin is easily nicked with a fingernail. Corn is ripe when you squeeze a couple of kernels and a milky liquid squirts out
  • Prevent water runoff from lawns irrigated with high precipitation spray nozzles by the following:  run and time each zone of sprinklers until run off occurs.  That is your cycle run time for that zone (typically 5 minutes or less).  Reset/program your irrigation controller for that amount of time then allow a 30 minute rest to allow the water to infiltrate and percolate into the soil. Program your controller to do this two more times.  This will allow for less evaporation and run off.  Example: Run time 4 minutes for zone 1.  Start time #1 – 4am, start time #2 -4:30am, #3 – 5am
  • Many flowers are most fragrant and beautiful during summer. Harvest in early morning when their stems have peak moisture content and re-cut stems immediately before adding to a vase.
  • Prune back spring blooming perennials to encourage re-growth and  re-blooming
  • Release beneficial predators such as lady beetles to control aphids
  • Drip irrigation systems are an effective method of conserving water during high demand months
  • Be careful when using a weed whacker around trees because it can damage the trunk and possibly destroy it
  • Mow cool season grass lawns at 3” – 3.5” tall.  Sharpen mower blades often.
  • Deadhead flowers and perennials to promote more growth and or flowers
  • Avoid heavy pruning during the drought.  A plant pushing new growth will require more water.
  • Consider installing a weather based irrigation controller to save additional water