Keep Your Garden Growing

I love July – my containers are gorgeous, and the “Big Garden” is a delightful display of colorful zinnias, celosia, sunflowers, cleome, cosmos and tithonia. Friends join me at the pool, but on their way “ooh & aah” as they pass the annual flower bed.  Thirty containers have been planted with 2026 flower introductions and are labeled just in case Pat Adams stops by.  Here are some tips to help your garden flourish this summer:

Watering

• Hydrate – You and your plants! Don’t tease the leaves! Deep and infrequent is best to encourage deeper root growth which helps plants withstand drought.
• If a planter is very wet and doesn’t seem to dry out – the drainage holes may be clogged. Or is the container sitting in a dish full of water? Roots, like us, need to breathe.
• Check hanging baskets and containers daily as they dry out quickly in hot weather.
• Newly planted trees & shrubs need 1 to 2 inches of water a week.

Weeding

• Stop these invaders! Weeds are not only ugly (well most are), but they steal moisture, nutrients and light.
• Weed regularly. Mark Adams’ favorite tool is a hoe. Control weeds when small as they’ll be easier to remove.
• Mulch to suppress weeds. Mulching also helps to retain moisture.

Fertilizing

• Vegetative petunias eat like teenagers. I add a liquid fertilizer when watering in July, about once every two weeks. If watering is done properly but the leaves are turning a light green, I add an iron supplement, and the leaves are a gorgeous green within two weeks.
• Don’t forget the houseplants. Fertilize to ensure vigorous growth.
• Lightly fertilize long season plants such as onions, tomatoes, peppers & eggplant.
• Hold back on nitrogen fertilizer applications to the lawn in the heat of summer.
• Avoid fertilizing trees and shrubs after July 4^th – lush growth will subject the plants to winter damage.

Flowers

• Keep those blooms coming! Deadheading and removing spent flowers encourage new blooms.
• Are your baskets and containers looking leggy? Treat them to a salon day. Check our animation of a petunia at the salon getting a make over!
• Blank spaces in the garden? Fill with colorful annual flowers.
• Cut flowers to enjoy indoors.
• Dry flowers to use in craft projects.

The Vegetable Patch

• Don’t quit! Keep the veggies coming by planting fall vegetables like broccoli, collards and kale in early July. Check out our Seeds to Sow in Summer list for more suggestions.
• Harvest! Miss a day in the garden and you may find a giant zucchini. Vegetables taste better when young and tender. And what fun to find a cucumber or zucchini hiding under leaves!
• Did you know that after the broccoli head is harvested, the plant continues to grow side shoots? Yum!

Tomatoes

• Spray or dust with an all-purpose fungicide like copper as soon as you see the first sign of damage to the bottom leaves of your tomatoes (turning yellow, then brown and shriveling) or by mid July.
• Blossom end rot is caused by uneven watering.
• Read our Tomato FAQs  for tips on growing tomatoes.

Herbs

• Cutting from the tops is actually pinching them back to encourage bushier growth. Has the cilantro bolted? Cut it back!
• Gather herbs for drying. Learn more about Drying Herbs.

Pruning

• Stop pruning evergreens and spring flowering shrubs that flower on previous year’s growth by mid-July.
• Prune summer flowering shrubs after flowering or early next spring.
• Cut back perennials that have finished flowering.

Unwanted competition for berries

• Cover bushes with bird netting and remove only when harvesting the crop. Probably won’t work on your neighbors.

Bacterial and fungal spots on zinnias

• You’ll want perfect foliage if entering the Dutchess County Fair (and you don’t have to be from Dutchess County to compete). If you notice spots on your zinnia’s leaves, treat with a fungicide.

Dutchess County Fair

• Plan on entering cut flowers and vegetables in the Dutchess County Fair. Creative folks should check out the Recycled Competition. For more information, check out our Tips on competing in the cut flower competition.

Visit Gardens

• July is a great time to visit gardens. Beatrix Farrand Garden at Bellefield, located next to FDR Home, has a new wild flower garden. Check it out! Vanderbilt Gardens, Innisfree, Kykuit, Montgomery Place and Bannerman Island are just a few that you can enjoy.

Take Photos

• You’ve worked hard to create a beautiful garden. Take a photo for a keepsake – and proof of your success!
• And if it’s vegetables that you’ve grown, include a photo of a dish that you created.