All the Gardening Tasks You Should Do in July

July is the month you're supposed to get a break from your garden. With most of the planting already finished, you should be sitting back, enjoying a fresh berry margarita in the garden as your plants fulfill their destiny all around you.

But the cycle of summer gardening never truly stops, which means you also need to fit in some weeding and harvesting in between heat domes. Here's what you should focus on this month.

The daily survey

Take a daily lap around the garden (I try to do mine before the sun gets too high in the sky). Each morning, I do a circuit with my garden hod and a bucket. Take note of how things are doing and what needs more water or perhaps a fertilizer boost, and look for infestations. If you see a weed, pick it and chuck it into the bucket (spoiler: You'll see many weeds). If something needs to be harvested, add it to the hod. Top up your water features and bee stations and try to spend a few moments appreciating all the hard work over some raspberries or the last of the snap peas. 

Water, water everywhere

The headline for this month is bringing in irrigation, since it’s likely the first time this year you'll really need it on a consistent basis. As temperatures climb, it’s imperative to have consistent water at the root of your plants. If you do this, they will grow resiliently, forming strong roots and stems that won't need babying under shade.

Test your irrigation or watering systems if you haven’t yet and get them turned on. Check in for the first week or two and make sure the ground is getting moist about six inches under the topsoil, and adjust the water as necessary. It’s never too late to mulch to conserve water and protect plant roots. Remember that you want a nice thick layer of mulch—an inch isn’t going to do much—but make sure to keep that mulch away from the stems of your plants. 

Deadhead to create stronger and more prolific blooms

Most of the summer blooming flowers are “cut and come again” blooms.  Your snapdragons benefit from a good chop; they'll branch and grow two blossoms in the same place. If you stay on top of your sweet peas, you might be able to stretch them into late July, but if they start to set pods, don't be afraid to pull them out to make room for another climbing vegetable or flower. You should be seeing the start of your echinecea, dahlia and daisies at this point of summer, so be sure to stay on top of deadheading so they last into fall. Some flowers, like sunflowers, are single bloom (they bloom only once, on one stem, so one chop and it’s over), so be sure you know which of your flowers are single bloom so you don't cut away the only bloom you'll get.  

Turn over peas and other spring vegetables

At some point around now, your peas will start going yellow and crispy from the bottom up. This just means it’s time to turn over the space for summer—hopefully you have some climbing beans or something else to go into the space. I use mine to plant green beans and sugar pumpkins, which will climb up the trellis and hang from the arches. Your spinach, boy choy, and spring broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage have all also flowered by now, so those spaces are ready to turn over for summer or fall as well. Consider bolt resistant lettuce, tomatillos, beans, cucumbers, melon or squash in their place.

Sometime this month, garlic is going to be ready to come out of the ground too. Wait for three or four brown leaves and then harvest with a hand spade (do not try to just pull them out of the ground). Your garlic needs to be dried in order for it to last until winter.  

If you got potatoes into the ground in spring, you can start harvesting them as soon as the plants begin to flower. Use a spade to turn over the earth and then use your hands to find all the baby potatoes. You can let really tiny seed potatoes fall back into the bed, which will help it perennialize. 

Succession plant flowers, lettuce, radish, scallions, beets, kohlrabi and other greens

In the newly empty spaces, remember to keep succession planting going. Get seeds in routinely or plant starts from the nursery. If you go with seeds, you’ll need to work harder to keep them hydrated so they germinate once they’re in the ground. 

Harvest your berries

It is berry season, so be sure you’re getting all of your berries harvested as they’re ready. Raspberries should be coming to an end, with blueberries in full swing. At some point this month, strawberries will be dunzo too, which means you can cut them back fully so they can focus on roots for next year instead of growing runners. (I run the lawnmower over them to accomplish this.)

It's also time for early fall planting

You should have your fall starts started by the end of July, if you’re growing from seed. These starts won’t go in for a month or two, which gives you enough time to get a tray of seeds going now.