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Weekend Gardening: Tips For July

Here are gardening tips for the month of July from the Santa Rosa Extension Service:

Flowers

• Annuals to plant include celosia, coleus, crossandra, impatiens, kalanchoe, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, portulaca, salvia, and vinca.
• Lightly re-fertilize flowering annual and perennial beds in order to retain their vigor and keep them colorful.
• Remove old flowers (deadhead).
• Keep leggy growth pinched back.

Trees and Shrubs

• Remove spent flower heads from crape myrtles so that they will continue to bloom.
• Watch for, and control pests if necessary. Spider mites on shrubs and flowers. Lacebugs on azaleas and pyracantha. Flower thrips on roses, gardenias and other blooming plants. Oleander caterpillars on oleanders
• Do any necessary pruning of hydrangeas as soon as flowering is finished.  They must have sufficient time to re-grow before the dormant season.
• Do not heavily prune any of the spring flowering shrubs such as azaleas, camellias or spiraea.

Fruits and Nuts

• Prune blueberry bushes, if needed, as soon as possible after harvest is completed.

Vegetable Garden

• Vegetables that can be planted outdoors include eggplant, lima beans, okra, southern peas, peppers and watermelon.
• Set out new tomato plants by late July in order to have a fall crop.  Purchase tomato transplants or root disease free suckers from the spring crop.  If possible, obtain one of the “hot set” varieties.
• Watch for and control tomato hornworm and fruitworms
• Remove old tomato plants from the garden once harvesting is complete.  Diseased plants should be burned or removed from your property.  Do not place known diseased plant parts in the compost pile.
• Establish a compost pile.  The high temperatures and frequent showers of summer help to speed up the breakdown process.

Lawns

• Watch for, and control pests if necessary.  Sod webworm in lawns, chinch bugs in St. Augustine lawns and spittlebug in centipede
• Keep lawn mower blades sharp.  This reduces some disease problems and gives the lawn a neater look when it is cut.
• Phyllanthus (common name chamberbitter or gripeweed), often described as that little “mimosa looking weed”, began germinating in May.  Check the lawn and landscape for its presence.   Contact your local Extension service if you need help with recommended control measures.
• Time for mole cricket control.  Use the soap flush technique to determine if sufficient crickets are present to warrant treatment.
• Lawns will begin experiencing more stress as temperatures rise this summer.  Raise the mowing height one-half inch as hot weather approaches.  This helps relieve some stress and enables the grass better tolerate summer conditions.