July is often one of the hottest months of the year and usually a great time to sit out and enjoy your garden. But after a promising June, drizzly weather has returned. A very different outlook to this time last year, but I guess it means you don’t have to worry about watering your plants too much!
Some scented plants to enjoy in July
Fragrance is essential in a summer garden so if you can, try to dedicate a space to growing richly scented plants, either in the ground or in pots or containers.
• Buddleia – has a gorgeous honey fragrance. It’s also called the butterfly bush as all pollinators love it – especially butterflies, bees and hummingbird moths.
• Star jasmine – a very reliable and richly-scented, profuse flowering, evergreen climber. Best grown in full sun with some shelter from the wind.
• Tobacco plants – All tobacco plants (nicotianas) have a powerful evening scent,
• Abelia – pretty shrubs producing scented, trumpet-shaped flowers from midsummer and into autumn. Plant in full sun and shelter from cold winds.
Other plants flowering in July include Delphiniums, Agapanthus, Lavender, various Clematis, Dahlias, Sweetpeas, Day Lilies, Honeysuckle and Roses.
General garden maintenance
• Support tall perennials such as lupins, delphiniums and gladioli.
• Liquid feed containerised plants and keep well-watered in dry spells.
• Feed late-flowering border perennials with a liquid quick-acting fertiliser.
• Start collecting seed from plants you want to grow next year, especially annuals such as Calendula, poppies and love-in-a-mist.
• Inspect lilies for the scarlet lily beetle whose larvae can strip plants in days. Pick off any you spot by hand.
• Watch out for aphids (greenfly and blackfly) on stems and leaves of young shoots.
• Sudden collapse of apparently healthy clematis, especially the large-flowered cultivars, could indicate clematis wilt. Cut out the wilted growth – new shoots should grow from ground level.
• Look out for and treat black spot on roses. Remove and destroy affected leaves to try to reduce disease next season.
Flowerbeds and Pots
• Autumn-flowering bulbs, such as autumn crocuses, Amaryllis and Nerines, can be planted now.
• When Delpinium, Foxglove and Verbascum flowerspikes have faded, cut back to just below the seadheads as the small buds lower down the spike often produce a second flush of flowers.
• Cutting back plants in baskets followed by feeding can encourage new growth and help revive tired displays.
• Keep deadheading Roses, annuals and perennials flower borders regularly to prolong flowering.
• Divide clumps of bearded iris.
• In dry weather a silvery white coating may appear on the leaves of plants such as clematis, roses and Lonicera, caused by the fungus powdery mildew. Although it’s unsightly, it’s not usually harmful to the plant.
• Some flowering perennials, like Nepeta, Alchemilla Mollis, Hardy Geraniums can be cut back and fed now, so they produce fresh green growth to liven up the border and will often produce a second flush of flowers.
Fruit and vegetables
• Pick peas and beans whilst they are young. This will encourage the plant to keep flowering and setting more seed.
• Broad beans are very prone to black fly and to prevent this, keep pinching out the tips to stop the black fly setting on the new growth, this also stops the plant growth and encourages more flowers and bean production.
• In July you can raise new strawberry plants from the runners. Peg the runner into the ground, water well and leave for a few weeks until well rooted. Cut off excess runners.
• Depending on the weather, once they have flowered, salad potatoes and earlies should be ready to harvest in July.
• Water tomatoes regularly and try not to let them dry out. Nip out all side shoots, and cut off excess leaves to allow light into the centre of the plant. Once the plant has set 3/4 flower trusses, pinch out the growing point to stop the plant growing taller. Support plants well and secure with soft ties.
Alpington and Yelverton 