July

The hottest month of the year brings annual plants bursting into flower turning your garden into a riot of colour. You may be astonished at just how enormous some of your perennials and shrubs have grown - make a note now so that you can move any overcrowded plants in the autumn or next spring. Unfortunately, all sorts of pests and diseases are likely to flourish in the warm weather, so make sure you keep plants well fed and watered. A plant under stress is more liable to succumb to infection. If you find your borders flagging in the sun, water them very well before mulching with bark or gravel.

ESSENTIAL JOBS CHECKLIST FOR JULY
Take cuttings from many shrubs and alpines
Spray roses and feed
Prune shrubs that have flowered and feed them
Water borders if necessary, then mulch
Water containers every day in hot weather
Dead-head perennials and annuals unless you want to save seed
Clear excess pondweed
Prune trained fruit trees
Plant leeks and winter brassicas

Last Chance To…Sow biennials

Flower Garden
Carry on pruning shrubs that flowered in spring and early summer, then feed them with one of the all-purpose plant foods. It's worth watering well and mulching them even at this stage in the year.
Cut down the stems of bearded iris now that the blooms have faded. If the clumps are very congested dig them up and divide, cutting the rhizomes at a joint. Trim back the leaves to 15 cm (6 inches). Replant in ordinary garden soil with a bit of grit added and water in. Continue to water until established.
Remove seeds heads of annuals to encourage the plant to produce more flowers.
Pinch out chrysanthemum shoot tips to encourage them to branch and produce more flowering stems.
Some early-flowering perennials, particularly lupins and delphiniums, can be encouraged to produce a second, smaller, flush of flowers if you cut the stems right down and apply a liquid feed.
If your dahlias aren't growing very strongly, give them a boost with some Liquid Growmore every 10-14 days.
Take cuttings of non-flowering shoots from many shrubs, putting them round the edge of small pots of half and half peat and sharp sand or peat and perlite. Water them in and keep warm but out of direct sun. Cuttings can also be taken of pinks.
This is the best month to trim hawthorn hedges. If you cut them earlier they need another trim, but if you leave it any later the growth will be very tough and hard to cut.

Roses
Continue to trim back and feed roses that have finished their first flush of blooms.
Spray as necessary against pests and diseases.

Lawn
Hopefully, all that hard work you did in the spring will have paid off, and your lawn will be looking green and velvety. If not, there's still time to use any of the wide range of  weedkillers, mosskillers and feeds. You should continue to feeds your lawn, and try to mow it twice a week if you can, though once a week will be OK. Don't add the clippings to the compost heap for the first few weeks after applying weedkillers.

In the Greenhouse
If whitefly and red spider mite are proving a problem, it is now possible to obtain biological controls, which can be used this month.
Plants in pots may need watering every day, and should be fed once a fortnight with a liquid feed.
Never let your grow-in bags go short of water as you may find it hard to re-wet them thoroughly.
Tomatoes should start fruiting this month. Keep the plants well supported and remove side shoots regularly. Use Liquid Tomato Feed every week to ensure a bumper crop.

Vegetable Garden
Carry on sowing salad crops outside. French beans can also be sown at the beginning of the month for a late crop.
Complete planting out young leeks.
Onions will need a lot of water at this time of year or the yield will be greatly reduced. Weeds will compete for every drop of water, so keep on hoeing around your onions to keep weeds at bay.

Containers
Water containers every day in hot weather. Hanging baskets can be watered twice a day if you've got them time and energy. Feed all containers once a week.

Herb Garden
The first week of the month is usually the best time to cut lavender for drying. Cut the hole stalk as soon as the flowers show colour, but before they are fully open. Tie them in small bundles and hang in a greenhouse or warm shed or porch to dry. Alternatively you could lay them in trays in the airing cupboard. When the flower buds are completely dry, rub them gently off the stalks. Use in muslin bags or small bowls.
Continue to harvest herbs for drying or freezing.

Fruit Garden
Pick blackcurrants as soon as they ripen. Growth being made now will produce next year's crop so keep bushes watered in dry weather and give them a handful of all-purpose plant food.
Trained fruit trees, such as cordons, fans, dwarf pyramids and espaliers should be trimmed of any unwanted shoots this month.

Water Features
Thin out oxygenating plants taking care not to remove young fish, water snails or froglets with the excess. The best way to do this is to check through the pondweed carefully, then lay it out in bundles around the sides of the pond and leave it overnight. This will give little creatures a chance to slither back into the water.
Waterlilies should be flowering now, so if you want to buy new plants, now's the time to make your choice. Waterlilies come in all sorts of different sizes - there are even miniature ones suitable for container pools. Make sure you get the right size for your water feature. If aphids are a problem on waterlily foliage try and knock them off with water spray from a hosepipe. Don't use a greenfly killer anywhere near a pond as it will harm fish and wildlife.

Alpines
If mounded or trailing plants seem not to be flourishing after flowering give them a top dressing of peat and Silvaperl silver sand mixed half and half with a dusting of Fish, Blood and Bone. Work this mixture into the plant then water well and dress with Silvaperl coarse grit.