Garden Patch: July
It’s time to stay on top of the harvest! As vegetable plants start to produce, be sure to check them regularly so crops don’t rot on the vine, get too big, or become snagged by pests before you can get to them! It’s also a great idea to stay on top of succession planting, watering, and deadheading.
- Start seeds indoors for heading cold crops for your fall garden now. Direct sow radishes, carrots, beets, turnips, and kale in late July through August.
- Watch the leaves of your tomato plants for signs of leaf spot diseases.
- Continue monitoring for pests discussed in the June task list.
- Seeds can continue to be sown throughout July for late crops of beets, bush beans, carrots, Swiss chard, cucumbers, and summer squash. Cover with pre-moistened potting soil mix which will be less likely to crust and crack. To hold in the moisture, cover the rows with a very thin layer of mulch or floating row cover fabric.
- Keep deadheading flowers as needed to prolong the bloom season.
- Divide and transplant bearded iris using the vigorous ends of the rhizomes. Discard the old center portion. Cut the leaves back to about six inches.
- Control mosquitoes by eliminating all sources of stagnant water. Consider installing a bat house to encourage bat habitats — they eat mosquitoes!
- A garden needs one inch of rain or water each week. Early morning is the best time to water. Evening watering is less desirable because plant leaves that remain wet through the night are more susceptible to fungal diseases. Mulch plants to reduce water losses and improve yields.
- If your garlic hasn’t been harvested yet, do it now!
- Check the soil moisture of container-grown vegetables and flowers daily. As the temperature rises, some plants may need water twice a day.
- Continue to pinch the flowers off of herbs like basil, mint, and oregano to promote bushy growth.
- Prepare beds for fall crops by sowing them now with a cover crop of fast-growing buckwheat.
- Water vegetable gardens deeply as needed.
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All credit and special thanks to Angie Lavezzo at Sowtrueseed.com
Check out the full guide by using the link below.