Garden checklist July, UK
The month of July is a time to celebrate our gardens, to relish in abundant blooms as well as delicious vegetables. Nothing surpasses the flavour of the first home-grown cucumber, consumed immediately after harvesting. It never even reaches the kitchen.
Furthermore, it is in July that you have the opportunity to stroll through the garden and carry out tasks and contributions. Perhaps undertake a slightly more substantial project, such as creating a new flowerbed or making preparations for next year’s cultivation. If you find it challenging to decide what to do, we have compiled a garden checklist for July.
General Tasks
Continue watering your plants
If the temperature rises and the weather gets hot and dry, it is important to water your plant regularly. Watering your plants can also help delay or prevent bolting. A good time to water your plants is early in the morning. At this time the weather is still cool which allows the water to run down into the soil before the water dries up by the heat.
Weed regularly
Continue weeding. In warm weather, weeds will be growing dramatically.
Continue deadheading
If you deadhead at the beginning of July, your plants will give flowers again.
Thinning fruit trees
If you have fruit trees in the garden, it is good to review the fruits and thin them. Remember that every fruit you choose to keep should have room to grow to full size. So, on a branch with eg 5 small apples, you will keep one. Save the biggest and finest, and remove the others.
Set up nets
If you have berry bushes that you want in peace and keep away from the birds, it can be a good idea to put a net over them. Maybe choose to share some of your cherries with the birds.
Control your summer garden from pests
Our gardens are havens for garden pests such as snails, aphids, and slugs. So, it is important that we keep them away from our plants. Here is a great page where they share how you can prevent different garden pests, such as aphids, vine weevils, slugs, and rats.
Care for your plant if you go on holiday
The most plant can manage on their own for a few days if your water them thoroughly. But if you have plans to leave for 7 days or more it is a good idea to set up some measurements for when you are gone.
- You can cover your plants with a clear plastic bag (for short term absence)
- Set up self-watering systems for your plants. Here are tips on automatic plant self-watering systems to make your time away easier.
- Put saucers beneath pots to collect water and increase humidity to keep the plant moist.
- If you are gone for a longer time, we recommend that you ask friends or family to come and water your plants. If you have plants in pots that need extra care you can find a plant-sitter for them while you are gone. Asking loved ones to take care of your babies is rarely a problem.
Enjoy your garden
July is the time for you to enjoy your garden. We often forget to just take a moment to really enjoy the hard work we have put into our gardens. If you already don’t have a seating area, bring a chair or a blanket together with a cool drink and sit down. Breathe in the positive energy that your private haven is offering you. Just sit and observe, listen to the birds and the wind. This is your moment to savor every little second.
Document in Gardenize
Take the opportunity during July to update your Gardenize app. Walk around the garden and post pictures of the different plants when they are in bloom or have finished flowering. Take pictures of flower beds, trees, and plantations, and select your favorite picture by clicking on the small flower in the upper right corner of the pictures. The favorite image will be the one that appears first in different views. Here you can read more on how to choose your favorite picture.
In the Kitchen garden
Juice, jam, preserve, dry, and freeze
When summer is at its best, the garden can at best be flooded with delicious treats. The small problem that comes with it, is that you want to take care of as much as possible. Our tip is to prioritize your best crops, and if you do not have time to take care of them right away, then freeze. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries are wonderful to put in smoothies or on the breakfast file during the winter. Even elderflowers can be frozen and made into juice at a later time. The currants also usually go into the freezer and turn into sour strips during the autumn. This is also an excellent time for you to make sauces and pickles.
Harvest, harvest, and then harvest some more
In warm weather vegetable and fruit crops lush. Remember to check your vegetables and fruits and harvest daily. Cucumbers, eggplants, green beans, and zucchini get a better taste when they are harvested early. Berries also thrive from daily picks. As July is the month of cherries, remember to pick before the birds take them.
Continue harvesting spring onions – if you want more, you still have a chance to sow a final crop for this year.
You still have time to sow
Even though it is getting late, there are still things you can plant in July, here is a “not-too-late” list:
- Brussels sprouts, cabbages, and cauliflowers
- Florence fennel and kohlrabi
- Peas and French beans
- Leaf vegetables and lettuces
- Endive and chicory
- Leeks and spring onions
- Root vegetables; carrots, beetroots, turnips.
Save seeds
Gather the seeds from fruits and vegetables that you want to replant next year. The following year can yield bigger and juicier. The best kind of seeds to save are those from open-pollinated plants. They rely on natural or self-pollination by insects or wind. Open-pollinated seeds ensure that the plant will produce the same crops in the following years to come.
GARDENIZE GARDEN APP
Your garden friend with green fingers and photographic memory.
Gardenize is an app for gardening and cultivation that helps you to overview, understand and develop your garden and your crops. Organizing your garden makes it easier to succeed and your Gardenize app structures all information and make it searchable. You’ll get tips and inspiration from other Gardenizers around the world. All Gardenize basic features are free to use. You can download the app from the App Store or Google Play, or create an account directly in the web app in your browser. Get to know Gardenize better here.
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