Gardening by Month - July

Relax and enjoy your garden this month, while keeping on top of all that growth. There’s still tidying to be done, but find time to sit back and enjoy your garden.

It’s easy to plant up containers for a burst of colour on the patio. Choose your favourite flowering plants and add them to a pot with fresh compost. Our plants of the month are herbaceous perennials, and the agapanthus looks particularly lovely in a pot.

If you have roses, consider companion planting around them, since the lower section can become leggy and sparse. Be careful not to damage the roots of the rose when planting anything new. Herbs and bee-friendly plants make good companion plants for roses. The phlox is another herbaceous perennial that’s bee-friendly and helps create a lovely cottage garden effect in colours ranging from white and the softest shades of pink and lilac through to vibrant reds. It likes rich, moist soil, and a shady spot.

Jobs for this month:

• Keep bird baths topped up. Leave out a small bowl of water at ground level for hedgehogs and other wildlife to drink from.
• Add a layer of mulch to your borders and containers, and particularly to clematis. They have their roots near to the surface so will benefit from mulch to retain moisture and protect exposed roots from direct sun.
• Deadhead to encourage more flowers, especially roses and sweet peas.
• If July is a dry month, make sure your vegetables get plenty of water, ideally in the evenings. Check all your seasonal fruit and veg daily to enjoy at its best.
• Give tomatoes a fortnightly tomato food with a liquid feed such as Tomorite. Keep on feeding them and leave them on the vine until ripe and juicy.
• During heatwaves, move container plants into a shady position and keep them well watered.

Until next month, enjoy your summer garden.