July Garden Hints {courtesy of Rosemary}
from Rosemary 2015
- Watering is key to growing healthy plants and veggies in this heat! Try to water in the mornings when it is cooler, slowly and deeply, which will cut down on need for watering frequently. Don’t water leaves of tomatoes or roses, always water these plants from the bottom close to the trunk.
- Add Mulch of straw or compost to the garden to conserve water.
- Harvest fruit and veggies frequently and pull weeds before they go to seed. Deadhead spent flowers, cutting close to the base of the stalk.
- Use bait to discourage slugs, especially on new plants. Safer’s has an organic bait now.
- Plant successive crops for continual harvest like peas, radish, carrots and beans.
- Sow seeds of cool season crops by mid-late July and keep watered. Some examples could be: lettuce, spinach and arugula.
- Fertilize June-bearing strawberry plants after you harvest, ever-bearing types should be fertilized halfway through the season. Half strength fish fertilizer is a good choice.
- Irises can be divided now. Although daffodils and tulips have bulbs, irises have fleshy rhizomes. Just dig up the whole clump, break the rhizomes apart, trim the roots to about 4″, cut the leaves to a fan shape about 6” on top to make them easier to work with, and then replant in groups of three or more with the fleshy rhizome exposed to the light and roots below in the soil. Irises need the rhizome exposed to capture sunlight, like in the photo below:
from gardeningknowhow.com