Weekly Gardening Tip: The July Mid-Summer Maintenance
Monthly Gardening: Mid-Summer Feeding, Clematis Care & Water Wisdom
Welcome to our July gardening feature! July is all about maintenance, enjoyment, and protection. As you can see from our community garden feature above, the borders are alive with rich color, our climbing clematis is a showstopper, and the local birds are flocking to our hydration stations. With the warm summer sun fully overhead, it’s time to keep the garden pushing forward at full power.
🌱 This Month's Core Tasks
- Feed Your Flowering Displays: Hanging baskets, window boxes, and patio containers will have used up most of the nutrients in their soil by now. Feed them weekly with a high-potash liquid plant food (like tomato feed) to keep the colorful displays strong into autumn.
- Prune Early Summer Climbers: Now that early-flowering clematis and climbing jasmines are starting to finish their initial flush, trim back any unruly shoots to manage their size and direct energy back into the plant's core structure.
- Harvest Lavender: As the lavender blooms fully open (just like our lush rows shown above), clip the flower stems. Hang them upside down in small bunches in a cool, dry place indoors to create aromatic dried sachets.
🪶 Supporting Mid-Summer Birds & Bees
July can bring dry spells that make it difficult for birds to find soft soil to forage for worms. Keep your wooden bird tables stocked with high-protein seeds and mealworms to assist adult birds feeding their final fledglings of the season. Ensure your garden water baths are thoroughly cleaned and topped up with fresh water daily.
🍓 Harvesting Tomatoes & Soft Fruit
Your hard work in the vegetable patch is starting to cross the finish line! Keep a close eye on your container-grown tomatoes and strawberries. Pick strawberries as soon as they turn completely red to prevent slugs from getting to them first. For tomatoes, remember to continue snipping off the non-flowering 'side-shoots' that pop up in the joints between the main stem and branches to focus energy on ripening the fruit.
🎨 Kids Club: Pressed Flower Art!
July is packed with color. Take the kids on a quick walk around the garden to collect dropped flower petals or small clover leaves. Place them carefully between two sheets of baking paper inside a heavy book for a week. They make brilliant, beautiful designs for homemade cards and summer nature diaries!
For downloadable nature logs, kid-safe flower identification keys, and creative summer printables, dive into the free resources over at WiggleWorms.eu.
Pro Tip: When watering your garden during hot periods, always focus right at the base of the plant rather than splashing the leaves. Watering the foliage in strong sunlight can burn delicate leaves and encourages fungal diseases like powdery mildew!