July in the Garden

Tip: Work in the garden during early morning hours to avoid the heat of the day. Keep hummingbird feeders cleaned and filled to encourage visits to your garden.

Planning

Prepare for August: Select fall flowering bulbs for August planting. Select space for wildflower seeding. Shop for seeds of cool-season flowers to be seeded in August and September. Prepare space in the vegetable garden for planting of beans and squash and purchase seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, Swiss chard and other cool season veggies. Mark your calendar to prune and feed roses in August. Have your irrigation system audited to locate any leaks and ensure proper water delivery during your summer vacation.

Planting

Color: Plant heat-loving annuals such as peacock ginger, zinnias, pentas, copper plant, lantana and firebush. Plant tropicals such as mandevilla, tropical hibiscus and esperanza. Ornamental grasses can be planted throughout summer. Plant hardy perennials such as yucca, sedums, Mexican bush sage, salvia and asters. Purchase water garden plants such as water lily and lotus.

Vegetables & Herbs: Plant tomatoes transplants in early in July for fall production and plant pumpkins, squash and gourds by seed for fall harvest.  Direct seed watermelon, cantaloupe and Southern peas. Plant pepper transplants mid-July for fall production. This is the last month to plant okra, luffa squash and peanuts; plant early in the month. Plant shallots and bunching onion sets. Start planting seed potatoes late in the month.

Landscape: Continue plant warm-season turf such as St. Augustine Sod and seed Bermuda grass. Be sure to provide consistent moisture to newly installed sod and grass seed.

Maintenance

Pruning & Feeding: July is generally too hot to apply fertilizer to turf and ornamental beds, but you should continue feeding container plantings. Sidedress tomatoes, peppers and eggplants with vegetable fertilizer. Apply mulch to all plantings to conserve moisture and insulate roots.

Vegetables: Continue harvesting tomatoes from spring planting. Keep tomato plants watered consistently to prevent cracking of the fruit. Harvest summer squash, peppers and summer herbs such as basil, oregano, lemon verbena and pineapple sage. Be sure to add grass clippings, pulled weeds and vegetable trimmings to the compost pile and turn it. Apply mulch to veggie beds if you did not in June.

Pest Control: Bt (Thuricide) for tent caterpillars and webworms, use horticultural oil or insecticidal soap for thrips, scale, spider mites, and mealy bugs and lacebugs. Use waterblast for aphids. Apply Spinosad to control grasshoppers, aphids, caterpillars and leaf miners in the vegetable garden. Spray liquid seaweed on tomato plants to control spider mites.

Watering: Use Gator-Bags to help keep newly planted trees and shrubs properly watered. Be sure to adhere to local watering restrictions. Water established plants deeply and infrequently. Established lawns, shrubs and trees will need a deep watering about once per week. Do not rely on your sprinkler system to adequately water new plantings. Provide supplemental hand watering to new plants several times a week, as needed. Early morning, between 6am-8am is the best time to water. Watering in the evening encourages fungal diseases in your turf, ornamental and vegetable plantings.