July Gardening

• Preparation makes for the best planting. Start thinking now about your fall garden. Till, compost, and fertilize.
• Plant the same flowering plants recommended for June: ageratum, celosia, coleus, marigold, portulaca, purslane, salvia, periwinkle, cosmos, and zinnia.
• Make your first seeding of fall squash, okra, beans, and cucumbers. Start seeds for fall transplants of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.
• If you're going on vacation for more than four or five days, arrange for someone to tend your lawn and garden. Water thoroughly every five to seven days if there is no rain. Newly sown plants need more frequent watering and special attention.
• Fill in low areas of the lawn and garden with small applications of compost. Also add a lawn topdress to encourage vigorous summer growth.
• Check azaleas and camellias for iron chlorosis. You will notice yellowing of the leaves, but the veins will remain green in color. Treat this with an iron chelate--we carry Carl Pool Chelated Iron.
• By the middle of the month make the last pinch on early-blooming mums. Those that bloom in late fall can be given one more pinch the last of the month. Be sure to keep them watered.
• If you missed lawn fertilizing in June, do so as early in the month as possible. When mowing, raise your lawnmower blade to the highest setting.
• If you didn't start tomatoes for the fall last month, try pruning existing plants back to about eighteen inches. While drastic, it is likely to result in a new fall crop.
• Fertilize azaleas for the last time this year before August 1.
• Fertilize your hanging baskets.