Planting Information > What to do When > July

Fruit

Custard Apple: Harvest every 3 to 4 days as fruit matures. Don't let trees dry out. 

Figs: Dormant period. Don’t let trees dry out.

Lychee: Do not let trees dry out. Minimal watering is needed. Check emerging flowers for flower caterpillars.  If more than 1/2 are infested, spray with pyrethrum or garlic spray.

Low Chill Stone Fruit: Peak or critical water needs - water trees 2 weeks before flowering and 3 weeks after.  In late July start blossom thinning.  Winter prune late varieties.

Mango: Don’t let trees dry out.

Passion-fruit: Don’t let the vines dry out.  Keep up the fish emulsion or kelp sprays every month.  Small amount of organic fertiliser with added sulphate of potash can be applied to vines, 20 g per sq m, for example large vines 100 g, small vines 50 g.

Pawpaw: Spray with wettable sulphur if powdery mildew is a problem.  Minimal water. Pick fruit at mature stage with 1/2 colour to have full flavour.

Persimmon: Dormant period. Minimal water required at this time.

Strawberries: Feed with organic fertiliser with added sulphate of potash.  Also use fish emulsion and kelp spray regularly over plants to keep in good health. This will prevent fruit rot. Pick fruit when fully ripe. Keep plants fully watered – try not to wet the berries.  This will prevent fruit rot. Mulch plants so the berries do not lie on the soil. Pine needles are good.

Bananas: Keep up the water and bag fruit.

Citrus: Harvesting should be well under way. Keep up watering.

Avocado: Early flowers should appear this month. Keep up water needs. If you have not applied garden lime and gypsum, apply now as per June instructions.

Chores for July

• Plant new rose trees.
• Plant out flower and vegetable seedlings from April and May container sowings.
• Divide and replant perennials, (remember the fair and pot some , buy new ones.
• Take hardwood cuttings of deciduous plants (15-30 cm) and insert deeply in garden soil Those that 'take' can be planted out next autumn.
• Shift rose trees and deciduous plants if necessary.
• Apply liquid fertiliser to parsley and flower and vegetable seedlings
• Sprinkle and water in small handful of organic fertiliser around herbs such as oregano, marjoram, sage and lemon bairn.
• Lift Dahlia tubers and store in sawdust. Break up clumps of day lily. Break up clumps o chives or shallots and replant plump offsets.
• Prune Hydrangeas and fuchsias to two-thirds their size, cutting to just above a bud.
• Sow a 'green crop' (lupin, vetch, broad bean) in a vacant bed to add nitrogen and humus to the soil (dig it in just before it flowers, and plant vegetables six weeks later)
• Plant rhubarb crowns in soil enriched with old manure, blood and bone, established plant also need this as a mulch.
• Plant offshoots of crucifix orchids.
• Reduce watering of house plants, but watch out for dry spots in the garden and water deeply when necessary.
• Squash caterpillars visible on foliage (rather than spray ones you can't see). Look underneath as well as on top.
• Plant potatoes, sweet potatoes and shallots in the vegetable garden.
• Split up clumps of daylily after six or seven years, or if new plants are wanted.
• Carry out heavy construction jobs (paving, pergolas, walls and steps) while it is cool.
• Winter pruning (Roses should not be pruned before July):
  a) Old fashioned Roses only need to remove unsightly and dead branches in winter.
  b) Climbers need to be pruned after they flower in spring.
  c) Modern bush and standard roses are pruned fairly hard each July, in very cold areas not until August. Cut the water suckers to the ground (shooting from below the union).
• Basic tools for the garden:
  a) Wheelbarrow, a fork, a rake and a hoe. A weeding implement preferably hooked.
  b) Medium-weight spade and a long-handled shovel (preferably with a rolled top to the blade).
  c) Secateurs, a pruning saw and hedge-clippers. Sharpen secateurs and saws for winter pruning jobs.
• Garden tools serve you best if looked after:
  a) Store them together in a dry place.
  b) Sandpaper wooden handles occasionally and rub in raw linseed oil.
  c) Grease metal axels of wheelbarrows Keep cutting implements sharp.
  d) Lawn mower if you have a lawn, get it serviced regularly.