July is your prize after many months of gardening from autumn prep to spring preparation — and you now get to reap your rewards with new fruits, vegetables and fragrant flowers. It’s a time of wealth.
July is not the best planting month for Southeast gardens, but it is a good time to prepare and plan. The weeds won’t let you rest, but they may slow down into a manageable pace throughout the dog days of the summer. Rainfall will best determine how long you will spend weeding. Weeds that are fewer , little rain. More rain, more weeds.
Gardening with Confidence®
Cut back annuals: Cut back summer annuals in order that they don’t get leggy. A good time to do this is right before you go on vacation; in this manner, you’ll be gone since the plants get a fresh start. Petunias benefit from this type of summer pinch. This cutback in the ends of the stems encourages branching, leading to a bushier plant.
Gardening with Confidence®
Practice shrewd watering methods: July could be a month with rain. When nature stops supplying routine rain, you might need to supplement. Here are a few pointers to help your backyard during a dry season:
Odds are your container plants need to be watered daily. Check by doing the finger test. If the top inch of soil is dry, it is time to water. Water thoroughly. Small pots will dry out quicker than bigger pots, and containers at sunlight will dry out quicker than those from the shade.Add mulch. A layer of mulch, 3 to 4 inches deep, can moderate soil temperature and reduce evaporation. Organic mulches include: composted leaves, shredded pine or hardwoods, and even nuggets. Mulches will also reduce marijuana creation and keep the lawn looking tidy.First season plants — those fall and spring additions — will need more frequent watering than established ones. Water new additions two or 3 times a week until the plants are created. Established plants usually require watering after a week.Conserve water by simply conducting a sprinkler during cooler hours, typically early in the morning. This can help reduce water loss due to evaporation. When at all possible, set up a drip irrigation system or a soaker hose to minimize waste. Watering in the morning also makes it possible for the water to dry on the leaves, minimizing mould formation.
Gardening with Confidence®
Deadhead and deadleaf spent flowers: Remove hosta flowers after the blossom is invested. They are primarily decorative and not a power source to the plant, so they don’t need to die back completely before removing.
Gardening with Confidence®
Deadhead the spent flowers of daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) , Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum spp.) ,black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia spp. ) and bee balm (Monarda spp. ) to prolong the bloom time.
Gardening with Confidence®
Do these yellow leaves of this daylily allow you to see red? They do to me. Not only do I deadhead my daylilies, but I also deadleaf. I really don’t like the appearance of yellow or decaying daylily leaves.
Gardening with Confidence®
Split irises: Can you have success with your new iris planted this year or two at the autumn? If not, it might be due to several factors: too much shade, too much fertilizer, too deep a planting, or crowding. July is a good time to fix any of these problems by lifting and relocating or repositioning into a more positive location.
Plant the iris high with the rhizomes along the surface of the dirt. They will be coated finely and gently using mulch, but not soil. Make sure that you are able to either see the rhizomes or even have the ability to brush away the mulch exposing the bulb.
With the exception of Louisiana variety, irises need six to eight hours of sun to blossom and require decent drainage. In case you’ve got a damp, partial sun location in your garden, plant a Louisiana iris.
Read on growing irises
Gardening with Confidence®
Harvest summertime edibles: Harvest berries when they are ripe. There’s nothing better than sinking your teeth into a ripe tomato, heated in sunlight. Weren’t plant tomatoes? See your regional farmers market to get a selection of new, field-grown varieties.
Inside your home backyard, keep an eye out for early blight. Blight is a fungal infection which will cause spots to develop on the foliage. The leaves begin to yellow and then drop. Pinch off foliage in the beginning indication. If too severe, there are numerous fungicides which can be used to reduce the symptoms.
Gardening with Confidence®
After the blackberry and raspberry harvest, remove the old fruiting canes to create room for the new canes that will make next year’s harvest.
Gardening with Confidence®
Manage pests: Do yourself a favor rather than explore the “eye” of a bagworm. Bagworms have got to be the most disgusting looking thing ever — to me anyhow.
Bagworms can be treated by removing them by hand and dropping into a bucket of soapy water. In case the bagworm infestation is not within easy access, they are sometimes sprayed with Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.
Bt is a microbial insecticide that is frequently used to control various caterpillars such as the red-headed azalea caterpillar along with many others, in addition to bagworms.
See more Southeast gardening guides