Your Monthly Planting Guide

There’s an abundance of fruit to harvest in July, especially soft fruit like currants, summer-fruiting raspberries, gooseberries and the last of the strawberries. Use them fresh in delicious puddings and tarts, or freeze them to keep you well stocked with fruit for the winter. These fruits should all be ready to harvest in July:

• Strawberries
• Blackcurrants
• Redcurrants
• Whitecurrants
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Cherries
• Apricots
• Peaches
• Nectarines

Fruit plant maintenance in July

• Thin out fruit on fruit trees like apples, plums, pears and peaches by removing some of the fruit from each cluster. This helps to concentrate the plants’ energies in developing the remaining fruits.
• Feed container-grown fruit plants.
• Feed citrus trees with a specialized citrus feed.
• Water container-grown fruit trees regularly in dry spells.
• Peg down runners from strawberry plants to produce new plants for next year. If you don’t need new strawberry plants, cut the runners off.
• When summer-fruiting raspberries have finished cropping, cut out the old fruiting canes to ground level.
• Prune stone fruit such as plum, cherry, apricot and peach trees now, as there’s less risk of infection by silver leaf disease if the trees are pruned in summer.
• Prune espalier, fan and cordon trained fruit trees.
• Treat apple scab by cutting off and disposing of any infected twigs, leaves or fruit.

Lawns get a lot of wear in summer when we’re all out in our gardens enjoying the sunshine. The main task for this month is to keep your lawn looking tidy by mowing regularly, trimming the edges and giving it a feed if necessary. 

In very hot, dry summers, lawns can start to look a little brown, but don’t rush to water yours straightaway if this happens. Grass is tough and will generally bounce back once it gets some rain, so be waterwise and wait a while.  

• Apply a high-nitrogen feed to the lawn if you have not already done this in previous months.
• Tackle lawn weeds – dig individual weeds up by hand or use a selective lawn weedkiller to tackle heavy infestations.
• Water newly laid turf or recently seeded lawns regularly in hot dry weather to avoid them drying out before their roots have had a chance to establish. 
• Mow the lawn regularly. In hot, dry summers, raise the blades on your mower to reduce the stress on the grass.
• Use edging shears to keep the edges of the lawn trimmed around borders and paving.
• If you do need to water established lawns, do it in the mornings to reduce the risk of red thread, a fungal disease.
   

Herb gardens really come into their own in summer, bursting with growth all ready for harvesting and using in the kitchen. Sow these herbs in July for a constant supply of fresh leaves:

Sow outdoors in pots or in well-prepared soil:

• Basil
• Coriander
• Dill

What herbs and spices to harvest in July 

Many herbs benefit from regular harvesting and will simply put on more growth, ready to be used. All herbs can be harvested in July, including:

• Lavender flowers (for drying)
• Borage flowers
• Basil
• Coriander
• Thyme
• Sage
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Dill
• Mint
• Chives

Herbs and spices plant maintenance in July

• Water container-grown herbs regularly in hot weather.
• Harvest herbs like thyme, basil and rosemary regularly for cooking. This promotes the growth of fresh new leaves.
• Sow annual herbs like coriander every few weeks, so that you have a continuous supply through summer. 
• Pinch off any developing flowers from annual and biennial herbs like basil, coriander and parsley, as the flavour of the leaves deteriorates once the plants have flowered. (This isn’t the case for shrubby herbs like rosemary and lavender.) 
• When harvesting herbs for drying, pick them early in the morning as soon as they’re dry, so that they’re still filled with their essential oils.

Perennials, annuals and summer-flowering bulbs are all in full bloom in July, so take some time to sit and enjoy the results of all your hard work in the garden. There are still flowers to sow and bulbs to plant though, to make sure your garden keeps on looking great throughout the year.

Sow these seeds in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill now for flowers next spring and summer: 

• Aquilegia
• Delphiniums
• Foxgloves
• Wallflowers

Plant autumn bulbs now in well-drained soil or in pots, planting them at a depth of around 2 times the length of the bulb. Water them after planting. These autumn-flowering bulbs are ready for planting in July:

• Nerines
• Colchicums
• Cyclamen hederifolium
• Arum italicum ‘Marmoratum’

What flowers to prune in July 

Cut back faded perennials once they’ve finished flowering to keep the garden looking tidy. They will put on fresh growth and often a second flush of flowers in late summer. Perennials to cut back in July include:

• Hardy geraniums
• Delphiniums
• Lupins

Flower maintenance in July

• Deadhead perennials regularly to encourage them to keep producing flowers.
• Cut sweet pea flowers for the house and to stop the plants setting seed.
• Lift overgrown clumps of bearded irises and divide them to rejuvenate the plants. 
• Spray perennial weeds like ground elder and bindweed with a glyphosate-based weedkiller now, as the plants have plenty of leaves to absorb the weedkiller. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using weedkiller, and protect surrounding plants before spraying.