Explore things to do in your garden every month

Gardening in July

Your garden should be looking in peak condition in July, after all that hard work in spring. So now’s the time to make the most of it with family weekends, barbecues and al fresco dining. But, there are things that need doing to keep it looking great all through summer. Watering will be the main job of the month and can be quite time consuming, so do whatever you can to reduce your garden’s reliance on water to make your outdoor life easier.

Things to do this month

Keep summer bedding displays flowering its head off with regular watering, feeding and deadheading.

Cut back early flowering perennials and give them a feed to encourage further flowering.

Pots, tubs and hanging baskets are very prone to drying out, so water whenever needed.

Continue to tie in sweet peas and other climbers regularly to ensure they don’t flop and break their stems.

Feed tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and cucumbers every fortnight with a high potash liquid plant food.

Earth up potatoes to improve the yield and prevent those developing near the surface turning green.

Prune cherry and plum trees after cropping.

Cut back sideshoots on gooseberries to 4 or 5 leaves, or just beyond the fruit clusters.

When summer-fruiting raspberries have finished cropping, cut out the old fruiting canes to ground level.

After fruiting has finished, peg down strawberry runners to produce new plants for future cropping.

Feed roses with a granular rose food to ensure they continue flowering all summer – and beyond.

Continue to deadhead roses as the flowers fade by nipping off the flower head with thumb and forefinger.

Cut back flowering shoots of weigela, philadelphus and jasmine to strong new growth immediately after flowering.

Trim bay trees and box plants trained in spires, balls or other topiary shapes.

Summer prune wisterias by cutting back this year’s leafy sideshoots to 5 to 7 leaflets.

Take semi-ripe cuttings of shrubs such as choisya, hebe, hydrangea, lavender, philadelphus and rosemary.

Continue to keep rhododendrons and camellias well watered during dry weather and feed with an ericaceous plant food.

Keep feeding wild birds with suitable bird food as they rely on us for food all year.

Wild birds may be short of natural water supplies, so keep bird baths topped up.

Add waterlilies and floating aquatic plants to help provide shade and keep water cooler.

Only give your fish enough food that they can finish within a few minutes and remove any uneaten food.

Keep the mower going and cut the grass at least once a week - or whenever it needs it.

Continue to feed your lawn with a liquid lawn food to keep it lush, green and healthy.

You may need to water the lawn during prolonged hot, dry periods to keep it green and growing.

Use edging shears to regularly trim around the edges of the lawn to maintain a sharp outline.

Check plants for powdery mildew disease and spray the foliage of affected plants with a systemic fungicide.

Pests will be very active this month. Check plants regularly – daily if possible – and keep ahead of problems. Red spider mite can be a problem in hot, dry greenhouses and conservatories.

Protect susceptible plants against slug and snail attack.

This is a great time to treat difficult, perennial weeds with a weedkiller based on glyphosate.

Treat paths and drives with a path weedkiller to kill existing weeds and prevent new ones appearing.