Jobs for July

General gardening jobs:

· In the greenhouse: continue to open the door/ windows on any hot days and spray the floor with water to ensure a damp atmosphere (it deters whitefly). If you haven’t already … start feeding Tomatoes once the first truss starts to form – follow the instructions on the bottle. Also feed Peppers, Chillies and Melons with Tomato feed

· Continue to buy / plant up bedding plants for garden beds/ pots/ hanging baskets. When planting in pots it is best to mix multi-purpose compost with John Innes no.2 at a ratio of 2:2. This does increase the cost, but modern multi-purpose composts tend to dry out quickly, causing plants to die / stop flowering earlier in the current hot spell. Remember to mix both water retaining gel and slow release plant feed with the compost before planting up (follow instructions).

· Continue to dead head bedding plants regularly to keep them flowering. When dead heading Roses cut back to the first or second pair of leaves

· If you haven’t already, place pots on saucers to catch any ‘run off’ and save water.

· Continue to keep on top of the weeding in the borders by hoeing/ hand weeding.

· Continue to watch for pest damage and disease. If you are brave enough you can squash greenfly with your fingers – if not, blast off with a hose jet. If you use pesticides try to spray late in the evenings when the bees aren’t around and use more eco-friendly products.

· Remember to leave the blades on the mower a little higher during spells of hot weather. Keeping the grass little higher helps the lawn to cope better.

· Continue to water pots/ hanging basket, veg and anything recently planted in the borders. Water in the morning or at night so that it does not evaporate in the hot weather. Give plants a thorough watering once a week rather than daily as it encourages the roots to go deeper into the soil and cope better with hot conditions.

· Hedges can be trimmed but check for any nesting birds – it is illegal to disturb nesting birds.

Vegetable / Fruit growing

· Check courgettes regularly and harvest when 4 to 5 inches long – this ensures a longer cropping period.

· Continue to harvest lettuce, radish

· Start lifting early potatoes and continue sowing fast growing crops like radish, rocket and lettuce.

· Give the runner beans a good soak in dry weather to ensure the beans form – the plants dislike dry weather.

· Thin apple fruits: this ensures bigger fruit.

· Prune plums trees, as necessary. Pruning now prevents infection getting in through the wounds caused by pruning. They don’t need much pruning – usually only removing broken or crossing shoots. If unsure check with the RHS, ask someone more knowledgeable or leave it until you know what you are doing!

· If you’ve got the space sow turnips, spring cabbage, fennel and autumn/ winter salad crops