Gardening tasks for July.
- Plant fall pansy seed.
- Water containers daily if it doesn’t rain.
- Water lawns & gardens early in the morning.
- Continue to deadhead & pinch back mums.
- Root verbenas, ivy, climbing roses, vinca, pachysandra etc. by layering into the warm soil. Bury a section of the plant that has “eyes” in the soil holding down with “U” shaped wire or rocks.
- Sow hollyhocks, foxgloves & sweetwilliam.
- Make geranium cuttings for indoor winter bloom.
- Empty areas of the vegetable garden that have finished producing & sow seeds for cool season crops such as collards & broccoli or a cover crop of clover to add nitrogen to the soil.
- If you eat bananas, bury the peels around roses to add potassium, which they love.
- Water & turn the compost bins.
- Clean up any standing water to deter mosquitoes.
- Cut back spent canna blooms to the next flower head.
- Sow zinnia seed & plant fall-blooming bulbs such as spider lilies & crocus.
- Look out for spider mites. They love dry, hot weather. To check for the little buggers, hold a piece of white paper under the suspect plant & thump the leaves. If you see little, tiny moving “dots”, yup, you have mites. Use a strong spray of water to control.
- Start your fall gardens.