Plants in Flower
What to Fertilize
What to Plant
What to Prune
Pest Outlook
Lawn Care
Propagation
Specific Chores
All Year's Garden Calendar
- Trumpet Creeper, Phlox, Butterfly Weed, Daylily, Red Hot Poker, Rose-of-Sharon, Sourwood, Crape myrtle, Stewartia, St. John's Wort, Abelia, Peegee Hydrangea, Chaste-Tree, Canna, Dahlia, Shasta Daisy and summer annuals.
What to Fertilize
- Continue sidedressing your garden vegetables.
- July is the month we recommend giving landscape plants a second (last) feeding of fertilizer.
- Take soil samples form your lawn areas for testing. Soil boxes are available at the County Extension Center.
What to Plant
- Plants of brussel sprouts and collards can be set out in mid-July.
- You can begin your fall vegetable garden this month. Plant beans, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes in July.
- Start broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower plants in peat pots to transplant into the vegetable garden in mid-August.
- Begin repotting overgrown houseplants.
What to Prune
- Prune "bleeder" trees like maple, dogwood, birch and elm this month.
- Prune the fruiting canes of raspberry and blackberry plants after harvest is over. Cut canes at ground level.
- Prune off dieback limbs on hybrid rhododendron, azalea, mountain laurel, and blueberry.
- Trim hedges as needed.
- Continue pruning white pines and narrowleaf evergreens like juniper early in the month.
- Remove faded flowers on flowering perennials to encourage a second flowering.
- Complete pruning of spring flowering shrubs by July 10th.
Pest Outlook
- Scout the following landscape shrubs for the following insect pests: arborvitae (bagworms), azalea and pyracantha (lace bug).
- Scout all plants for Japanese beetles as needed.
- Spray your tree fruits and bunch grapes on a regular basis using an organic spray schedule.
- Use a biorational/organic insecticide if the following vegetables if insects are observed: cucumber (cucumber beetle), squash (aphids), tomato and eggplant (flea beetle).
- Spray woody invasive weeds like oriental bittersweet vine, wisteria, English ivy, tree of heaven, Chinese euonymous, Russian olive, Japanese honeysuckle and Japanese kudzu with a recommended herbicide.
Lawn Care
- Remember to change direction when moving your lawn. Travel north to south on one mowing and east to west on the next cutting.
- Continue feeding your zoysia lawn with fertilizer. Do NOT give tall fescue or bluegrass lawns any fertilizer this month.
- Maintain 3" mowing height on tall fescue and bluegrass lawns.
Propagation
- This month is still a great time to take semi-hardwood cuttings of azaleas, holly, rhododendron and many other shrubs.
- July is an ideal time to divide and transplant your iris and daylilies.
Specific Chores
- July is a good month to see if and where your home can use some additional shade trees. Plan to plant new tress in the fall.
- Blossom-end rot may be seen on tomatoes this month. Two factors - too little water and too little lime in the soil - may be the reason.
- In dry weather, both your vegetable garden and landscape plants will benefit from a good soaking watering. Slow watering will penetrate the root zone better. Apply 1" of water early in the day.
- Purchase locally grown blueberries and blackberries.
All Year's Garden Calendar
