July Gardening – What To Do in the Garden in July

“Sweet, sweet burn of sun and summer wind.” Well, with most of the UK currently experiencing a heatwave, July gardening certainly has a very different feel this year. And we’re having to work really rather hard to keep the colour and new growth going in our garden and orchard. But I don’t want to complain, we’re very fortunate in our outdoor space, and once again, I’m lucky enough to be writing this post outside. So, welcome to July’s horticultural update, let’s take a look at what to do in the garden this month.

What to do in the garden in July

For those of you who thought June’s garden update was a long and photo-heavy post, all I can say this time is, buckle up! As usual, I’ll break this month’s round up into sections: flowers, vegetables, jobs, wildlife, with a sprinkling of July gardening tips and suggested jobs to do in the garden.

July garden flowers – flowers that bloom in July

If you follow my Instagram, you’ll already know what’s been flowering in our garden this month, but as I have SO MANY photos to share, I thought I’d break them down into annuals, perennials, edibles, and wildflowers for this post.

Annuals

Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower, set seed, and then die, all within one year. And I’ve cheated slightly with my Cosmos Lemonade and Helichrysum Silvery Rose because I bought them both as 9cm potted plants. My own Cosmos seeds failed to germinate and I spotted the Helichrysum seedlings on sale, and fell in love with the promise of their pom-pom like blooms – aren’t they fabulous?

July gardening scent is more than taken care of with our sweet peas* which are continuing to keep us in 8-10 vases every week – the more you pick, the more they flower. Having experimented with sowing the sweet pea flower seeds last November rather than February this year, I’ll definitely be doing the same again this Autumn. And I’m thrilled to see some self-sown Claret Sunflowers* in one of our veg beds – as are the bees. I much prefer this glorious ruby shade to the more traditional yellow.

Perennials

Perennial plants and shrubs are those that come back every year – and they tend to be low maintenance, good value garden essentials. Newly planted this Spring are some Achillea, or Yarrow, which are giving life to our new herbaceous borders. Their beautiful ferny foliage is the perfect foil for those clusters of flat, densely packed flower heads. Gorgeous as cut flowers too.

It’s good to see some old favourites again as well. Firstly, we have Agastache (Giant Hyssop, related to Mint) with her aniseed-scented leaves and tall purple flower spikes. Next, we have my all-time favourite Geranium Rozanne, who’s happy in shade, sun, pots, and borders. And lastly, one of our Hebes, with her pretty little purple blooms standing out against the evergreen variegated leaves.

One of my favourite summer-flowering bulbs is the bright red Crocosmia, who gets bigger and better every year. And it’s a thrill to see our Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy* flowering again – I dug up the plants I’d grown from seed last year and overwintered them in the greenhouse, before planting them out again – so striking, don’t you think?

Regular readers will know I’m a huge fan of Hydrangeas, they’re such easy shrubs to grow and very tolerant of shade as well. These three are lighting up different areas of the garden where other plants struggle to grow.

Good flowers to plant in July are Lavender, Salvias, and Verbena Bonariensis. Hardy, drought tolerant, and repeat flowering if lightly pruned, they’re brilliant for splashes of colour and pollinators love them too. Tip: under planting roses with salvias can help with blackspot on their leaves – it hasn’t eradicated it entirely on ours though.

Other flowers that the pollinators are loving are the Nepeta Six Hills Giant (Catmint), which I moved from a shadier spot where she was very unhappy. She’s rather taking over now, but I haven’t the heart to cut her back just yet, she’s humming with butterflies and bees. As are our new Verbascum Chaixii Albums (Mullein) with their white flowers and red-purple centres, and bright pink Penstemons.

My July gardening post doesn’t feature as many roses as last month because I’ve been doing a lot of deadheading to encourage new blooms. But these two pink climbing roses are very pretty, one by the front door and one by the back door. And I’m absolutely thrilled my newest rose (this month’s cover picture), planted as a bare root this April, has flowered. Rosa ‘Timeless Purple’ really is purple, and she has the most intensely beautiful scent, a real old-world Turkish rose fragrance.

Wildflowers

Within any garden planting scheme, I believe there should always be room for some self-sown wildflowers. Underneath Flora’s trampoline in the orchard we have some gorgeous ferns and Prunella Vulgaris, or Selfheal, whose violet flowers are a rich nectar sources for bees and wasps. And by our main wildlife pond we have a huge patch of Linaria Vulgaris, or Common Toadflax. Looking rather like a mini-snapdragon, the yellow and orange flowers give the plant her other common name of ‘”butter and eggs”!

Last year, Flora scattered some wild poppy seeds all around our garden and now we have these breathtakingly beautiful flowers everywhere, making us and the bees very happy indeed.

Edibles

As some of my regular readers know, we grow edible flowers in our garden too. Like these lovely pelargoniums, whose leaves I use for teas and flowers in salads or cake decorations.

The pink flowers on our new Malva, or Mallow, add a splash of colour to summer salads, although you can only harvest the youngest leaves to eat. And we use the beautiful blue Borage* flowers in salads, cake toppers, and freeze them in ice cubes. Both plants are decorative, delicious, easy to grow, and loved by the bees – fabulous summer flowers.

Did you know Cornflowers are edible, with a sweet-to-spicy clove-like flavour? Blue is the most common colour, but they come in white, red, pink, and purple too – try them in salads, as cake decorations or a pasta topping.

Fun fact: not all nasturtiums are orange. We grow these vibrant Cherry Rose Nasturtiums*, whose neon flowers have a sharp peppery taste, perfect as a garnish or in salads. Nasturtiums are usually climbers, but these are a bushy variety so I’m using them as bedding plants. Other splashes of July gardening colour come from our Dahlia Roxy, whose petals have a mild water chestnut flavour.

Tip: only pick the new flowers, wash them, and use the petals. Not the stamens or sepals, which are bitter. And obviously don’t use flowers that have been treated with pesticides or, if you’re out foraging, any that a dog might have peed on… I should also mention that our Achillea, Rose, and Sunflower blooms are also edible 🙂

What to do in the vegetable garden in July

Despite the title of this section, there’s not very much going on in our vegetable garden this month. Our November-sown Robin Hood broad beads* have all been harvested and enjoyed. And since this photo was taken, we’ve picked all our sugar snap peas – I’ve left the Pop Up Crop Protection Bird Net Cover Cloche* in situ, to guard against the pigeons in case any more shoots and fruits will grow. Tip: the shoots are delicious in a salad and full of vitamins too.

Over in the greenhouse, the first trusses of ‘Rainbow Blend’ F1 Hybrid tomatoes* are appearing. Tip: once this happens, give them a liquid feed of Tomorite* once a week to boost their flavour. The three Burpless Tasty Green cucumber* plants are also thriving – we’ve already eaten 3 delicious, crunchy fresh cucumbers and have more growing too. Tip: keep your vents and doors open all the time now, it gets VERY hot inside a greenhouse at this time of year.

If you’re wondering what veg to plant in July, you can sow small batches of fast-maturing salad leaves, rocket, and radishes every few weeks for continuous pickings throughout the summer. And keep an eye on any bean plants that need staking, tying in, and aphids cleared away with a blast of water. In the meantime, I’m happy to see that our fruit trees and bushes are showing signs of a good harvest to come. Apples and pears…

Followed by figs, peaches, and plums for making plum jam later (although I very much doubt the peaches will ripen)…

And some lovely, sweet blackcurrants and gooseberries (I plan on trying to make gooseberry jam this year)…

Unfortunately, we’ve not managed to harvest more than a couple of fruits from our blueberries and raspberries as a blackbird has been beating us too it. Note to self: net them next year… But we’ve been picking lots of lovely little self-sown wild strawberries and have already enjoyed some delicious rhubarb (also on my jam making list). Tip: create new strawberry plants for free by pegging down any strawberry runners into pots of compost to set roots (middle photo).

And just look at the growth on our prolific grapevine – I still pinch myself that we can grow grapes here, against the wall, in our UK garden!

Lastly, a little July gardening tip for those of you who are plagued by flies inside your home. Buy some basil plants from the supermarket and put them in any room where you don’t want flies. For us, that’s the kitchen because of our food and the cats’ food. Flies hate the smell of basil, and it works like a charm, we get far fewer in the kitchen now. I don’t remember where I read this but you’re welcome 🙂

July gardening jobs – things to do in your garden in July

With daily temperatures in the high 20s and mid-30s, top of the July gardening jobs is watering. It’s really important to water any newly planted garden plants, container plants and hanging baskets regularly – at least every other day. Water butts are quickly emptied in this heat, so get yourself one of these 150ft flexible, expandable hose pipes, which is THE best gardening hose ever*. It reaches around the front of our house, the back garden, and all the way into the orchard, which makes life a lot easier. And adding a good layer of mulch (I love Strulch*) will help keep moisture in the soil too.

Alan isn’t mowing the grass as frequently at the moment, due to the dry weather. And when he does, he keeps the blades on a higher setting to avoid scalping the lawn. Other gardening jobs for July include dead heading to encourage new growth and fresh blooms, tying in that new growth, and keeping on top of the weeding. My other main job is tackling the horrendous bindweed infestation behind the summerhouse. I use this RoundUp gel* which I can target precisely, and now’s the perfect time as the vines have lots of leaf surface area to absorb it.

Gardening for wildlife in July

As usual, we’re keeping our bird feeders topped up with quality wild bird food* and high energy fat balls*. Eagle-eyed readers might spot that the feeders are now positioned a little higher up in the tree than before, and hidden in the leaves. Sadly, this is because Spooky jumped up and caught a bird in mid-meal at the end of June, and I couldn’t save it. However, the starlings on the ground always know when there’s a cat around, so we don’t need to worry about them.

Although it may not look like it, we’ve cleared a LOT of duckweed and excess vegetation away from our ponds. This has given the water lilies and other oxygenating plants room to do their thing so that the frogs, newts, and fish can thrive. And we’re keeping all the ponds topped up with water as well, so the birds and other mammals (including our cats) have easy access to drink.

July gardening – a summary

So, this marks the end of my July gardening update with your reminders of what to do in the garden in this month. While we may be melting in the heat, as long as we don’t get a hosepipe ban, the garden won’t mind too much. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a lovely quote about summer time, which feels very apposite just now:

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawnmower is broken.”

Did you enjoy your virtual visit to July in our garden? And all your seasonal gardening tips in my latest month by month gardening round up? What was your favourite photo or tip? And what are you doing in your outdoor space this month?

* This post features affiliate links but all opinions are my own (see my Disclaimer).