Summer’s come and the weather is warming up. It’s important to make sure your plants are ready for the season. Here are a few July gardening tips to help your garden stay happy and healthy.
Fertilize
Feed the plants that are actively growing such as annual flowers, vegetables, cymbidium orchids, ferns, roses, tropicals and warm-season lawns. If you didn’t feed your citrus and avocado last month, do that this month. Fertilize azaleas and camellias with an acidic fertilizer. Don’t forget to feed your foundation plants like pittosporum and rhaphiolepis if you skipped them in the spring. For more information on fertilizing, see April Gardening Tips.
Fruit Trees
If your trees look healthy, don’t worry if you are seeing citrus or stone fruit trees drop small fruit this month. (Or apples doing the same last month.) This natural thinning allows your trees to focus their energy on the remaining fruit.
You can also thin the trees yourself if you want larger fruit. It’s best to space peaches and nectarines four to six inches apart and leave eight to ten inches between apples. Pears, plums and apricots should be six to eight inches apart after thinning. This will allow the fruit to grow to full size and take extra weight off tree limbs. Clean up fallen fruit to limit pests. If fruit drop seems excessive, it may be due to water stress. Your trees need several deep waterings this month.
Water and Mulch
As summer weather warms up, plants need more water. When the top four inches of soil in the root zone of your plants starts to dry, it’s time to water. Water deeply on occasion to leach salt from the root zone.
If you haven’t mulched recently, this is a good time to do so. The mulch will help keep your plants’ roots cool and hold moisture in the soil. Organic mulch will also add nutrients to your soil as it decomposes. It will take a layer of at least two inches to discourage weeds. Keep the mulch an inch or two away from the trunks of trees and shrubs. Piling mulch against the trunk can cause rot or other issues.
A lot of information for July Gardening Tips 2019 comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.