Extension for Real Life

What to Do in Your Garden in July

It’s officially summer, meaning the heat is here in full force! I set my watering can by the door as a reminder to water my plants. A few years back, when I first started growing an interest in gardening, I learned the hard way that you have to water your plants regularly because of the Mississippi heat. Don’t be like young Michaela. Always water your plants!

Here are a few things that you can do in your yard and garden during the month of July.

Planting

• Plant pumpkin seeds for a Halloween harvest.
• Use portulaca or marigolds to fill in bare spots in your flower beds.
• Root cuttings of azaleas, boxwoods, camellias, gardenias, hollies, and poinsettias in coarse sand. Cuttings should be 4–6 inches from new growth with lower leaves removed.
• Plant now for color in the fall: marigold, zinnia, celosia, and Joseph’s coat.
• You can still plant daylilies.
• Start cuttings for house plants: ivy, wandering Jew, philodendron, and begonia.
• Plant fall vegetables: cabbage, parsley, and collards.

Fertilizing

• Do not fertilize camellias after July 1.
• Fertilize chrysanthemums around July 15.
• Fertilize all of the garden as you did in March.
• Fertilize lawns with a well-balanced fertilizer.

Pruning

• Remove faded flowers from crape myrtles to encourage a second blooming.
• Pinch back mums before July 15.
• Cut back broken or withered fern fronds. New growth will appear for fall gardens.
• Pick all vegetables regularly to ensure continued bearing.
• When cutting boxwood into a hedge, make sure the base is wider than the top to allow sunlight to reach the plants’ bases.
• Remove dead limbs from trees and shrubs.
• Prune roses to encourage fall blooms.
• Remove flowers from basil and cut mint to encourage new shoots.

Mulch

• Check mulch on azaleas and camellias. Mulch should be at least 2 inches thick.
• Keep zinnias and mums mulched to conserve moisture and reduce weeds.

Miscellaneous

• Water azaleas well because they are setting flower buds now.
• Cut grass at 2.5–3 inches during hot weather.
• Water the whole garden deeply once a week.

 Home Accent

• Never leave house plants in a closed home when you’re away for vacation. Either water and place them under a shady tree or have a friendly neighbor come in and water them for you.

In Bloom

• Ageratum, althea, balsam, buddleia, butterfly weed, caladium, canna, cleome, cosmos, crape myrtle, dahlia, daylily, funkia, four-o’clocks, gladiolus, hibiscus, impatiens, lily, liriope, lycoris, lythrum, mallow, marigold, montbretia, moonflower, oleander, periwinkle, petunia, phlox, plumbago, portulaca, rudbeckia, salvia, scabiosa, shasta daisy, snapdragon, snow-on-the-mountain, tuberose, verbena, veronica, and zinnia.

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Happy gardening!