Gardening jobs in July

The temperatures are building and many perennials are at their peak. Sky blue delphiniums come into their own, sunny sunflowers follow their namesake on its journey across the sky, elegant sweet peas fill the garden with overwhelming scent. Al fresco dinners on the patio have finally arrived, but there’s some practical tasks to complete too. Deadheading is a must to ensure plants continue to look their best, propagate strawberries, harvest courgettes in the kitchen garden, and don’t forget about planting those autumn-flowering bulbs. 

• Make the most of lavender: It’s easy to understand why lavenders are popular, even after centuries in cultivation, for they are colourful in flower with wonderfully aromatic evergreen foliage. They stand regular clipping and are both pollinator-friendly and drought tolerant.

• Feed sweet peas regularly and prolong the flowering by removing seed pods.

• Look after roses: Neil Miller, head gardener at Hever Castle & Gardens in Kent, shares his tips on how to look after roses in summer for months of glorious blooms.

• Take semi-ripe cuttings and make more shrubs and climbers in summer: When it comes to propagating a range of garden trees, shrubs and climbers, particularly evergreens, a reliable method for many is to strike semi-ripe cuttings. The time to take these cuttings is from late summer and through early autumn.

• Do the Hampton Hack and give tired perennials a new lease of life: Cutting back some early season perennials after they have flowered can helpfully result in more blooms, or at the very least a crop of nice fresh foliage. Usually, it’s a trick gardeners pull out of the hat in early July – the time of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

• Sow biennials: Sow biennials this summer and look forward to their pretty flowers next spring and summer. Most are easy-to-grow and beautiful so the wait is worth it.

• Plant autumn-flowering bulbs, such as colchicums and autumn crocus.

• Look after your greenhouse: Greenhouses need special attention in summer, when sunshine and warm weather can make the temperature rocket under glass. Here’s how to look after your greenhouse and keep its plants healthy during the summer months.

• Pinch out your tomatoes: Look after your tomato plants during July for bumper crops later in summer, pinching out sideshoots, and feeding and watering regularly.

• Check crops for aphids: Perhaps the most common of all garden insect pests, the blanket term ‘aphid’ includes many species of greenfly and blackfly that target a range of different plants.

• Ensure plants are well-watered in the heat: In many garden situations our plants depend on us to give them what they need – and you’ll need the right watering kit to do that.

• Sow salad leaves and quick-growing crops such as radish, pak choi and mizuna that can still be sown now.

• Harvest courgettes

• Propagate strawberries

• Summer lawn care: Now that summer’s arrived, the challenges of caring for your lawn may evolve, especially if there’s a lengthy dry spell.

• Give your lawn a feed: You don’t need to be aiming for a bowling green lawn for your grass to benefit from being fed in spring. Even if you just have a ‘normal’ lawn – mown but not obsessively so, your grass will still benefit from a boost.