The Basics for July
A selection of basic jobs that, if you do nothing else besides these, will still keep your garden looking splendid.
Careful watering
If the recent heat waves have taught us anything about watering and water preservation (especially for those of us experiencing hosepipe bans) it’s that the watering can is a wonderful tool. It helps us to conserve water, to be very focused in our watering, and draws us closer to our gardens – to pay attention to the minutiae.
In warmer weather, a reminder that plenty of plants will be able to survive infrequent watering, but many won’t. Listen to your garden, watch your garden, and water where it’s needed most as a priority. This is often smaller plants, pots, and those in hot spots in your outdoor space.
Water in the early morning or at dusk to reduce evaporation, and keep using that watering can over a hose wherever possible.
Don’t forget to water at the base of the plant too – for the dual benefit of sending the water straight to where it’s needed, as well as reducing wastage on the foliage.
Targeted feeding
Last month we extolled the virtues of tomato feed. It’s a brilliant secret weapon for a gardener as a widely available, affordable plant food that works well on almost all plants. Keep feeding your plants every third water – or once a week – in summer to maintain high productivity and fulsome foliage.
Though it’s a brilliant product, it doesn’t work on everything. Avoid using tomato feed on:
- Ericaceous plants (Camellia, Rhododendron etc.)
- Leafy vegetables like lettuce and cabbage
- Root vegetables like carrots, parsnips and potatoes
- Small seedlings (for which tomato feed is often too strong)
Dig Top Tip: Water first, feed second – never apply feed to bone-dry compost because it can scorch the roots. Give every container a good drink of water first to moisten the soil.
Deadheading and supporting
Deadheading is a very easy way of helping your plants to produce more flowers. If plants are showing spent flower heads, snip them off at the base of the stem on which the flower sits – usually back to a central stem, and the plant will take this as a sign to turn its energy into producing another flower head – or multiple flower heads – rather than focusing its energy on growing the seeds within the old head.
Supporting your plants is also a very easy way to keep them safe, and structurally impressive. For taller plants (such as a Thalictrum), structural support in the form of a bamboo cane or support bow can help to avoid wind damage and, if you purchase the raw metal plant bows, look pleasant enough in your flower bed too.
Pot care
Pots will need extra attention in hot weather. The obvious solution is to water regularly, often more regularly than the rest of your garden. With a contained volume of soil in a pot, it makes sense that they will often dry out quicker than the ground. Another easy way to keep moisture in the pots where its needed, is to make sure all of your pots are in saucers. It can seem obvious, but if you don’t have these in place, they are very cheap from your garden centre or big supermarket and make a world of difference for water retention.
When applying some extra care and attention to your pots, don’t forget to to include window boxes in the same breath.
Lawn care
With the hot weather we’ve been having, your lawn will almost certainly have suffered. It’s a sensible idea, when mowing, to raise the blades of the mower to a higher height than usual to avoid too short grass from scorching even further.
If your lawn is looking brown and dry following the hot spell, don’t worry – it will almost certainly come back. (And we can cover off how to seed any dead patches later in the year!)
Plant-Specific Advice for July
Quick fire advice for a small selection of plants that feature in our Instant Bed designs
Hosta: Protect foliage from slugs and snails, water deeply at the base to prevent leaf scorching, and cut spent flower stalks back to the base once they fade.
Heuchera: Snip off fading flower spikes at the base to encourage fresh foliage and check around the base for loosening caused by vine weevil larvae.
Thalictrum (Meadow-rue): Stake tall varieties (like T. delavayi) to prevent high summer winds from snapping the tall stems, and keep the root zone damp.
Hydrangea: Water heavily and consistently at the base to prevent large leaves from wilting in heatwaves, but leave active blooms intact.
Grasses: Comb through evergreen grasses with gloved hands to pull away dead foliage, and ensure newly established ornamental grasses receive supplemental water.
Trailing Geraniums (Pelargonium): Deadhead spent flower trusses weekly by snapping or cutting them back to the main stem, and feed weekly with a liquid tomato fertilizer.
Fatsia Japonica: Nothing needs doing (aside from making sure newly planted specimens don’t dry out completely in prolonged heat).
Gardening for nature
Your monthly advice for encouraging more nature into your outdoor space.
Planting for bee diversity: When introducing flowers into your garden, make sure that you have a variety of different flower shapes, sizes and structures. Different bees (and there are many different species) will be attracted to and designed for accessing different flower types and so as wide a variety as possible will help encourage a wider variety of visitors – in turn helping to improve biodiversity. It’s worth noting that all Dig designs have been refined to include this variety!
Messy corner: This is a fantastic job for the time-poor gardener. To create a habitat for beetles, and other wildlife seeking refuge, simply leave an area of your garden alone. Over time, decaying matter from dead plants will create a loamy surface layer, while leftover plant structures can serve as very helpful hiding places for all manner of creatures.
Nurturing newts: Newts spend a huge portion of the summer foraging on land for insects and slugs, but they dry out quickly in warm weather and need damp, shaded shelter. Sink a shallow, wide bowl (or container pond) into the ground in a quiet, shady spot, and fill it with water. Place sloped stones, pebbles, or a piece of wood reaching from the water to the bank. Newts need gentle slopes to climb in and out easily without drowning. Pile a small stack of logs or flat slate nearby on damp soil to give them a cool, humid home to retreat to during hot days. Just a small container of water like this can make a difference in summer, and if you see it really benefitting local wildlife, perhaps it’s your sign to introduce an entire wildlife pond…?
