July, a busy month for gardeners

For gardeners, the month of July is a busy time. From harvesting the vegetable crops to weeding and maintaining the flower beds and the lawn, there is no shortage of things to be done. I have compiled a list of things you may want to consider doing during this the warmest month of the year.

If your crape myrtles have stopped blooming, you can stimulate them to bloom again by adding superphosphate (0-20-0) to the soil around them. Use about half a cup per foot of plant height. Work into the soil and water in well.

To prolong the blooming of crape myrtles during the summer, remove the flower clusters as soon as the petals shed. This will prevent the formation of seed heads.

Your crape myrtles may be covered with a grayish-white powder, which is most likely powdery mildew. Spraying leaves with a fungicide before bloom time can help prevent this problem. Try chemicals with one of the following active ingredients: chlorothalonil, potassium bicarbonate, sulfur, or neem oil.

There are several hybrid crape myrtles that are somewhat resistant to mildew. These include white-flowered ‘Acoma’ and ‘Natchez’, pink-flowered ‘Biloxi’, ‘Comanche’, ‘Lipan’, ‘Miami’, ‘Muskogee’, ‘Osage’, ‘Sioux’, ‘Yuma’, and ‘Zuni’, and red-flowered ‘Hopi’ and ‘Tuskegee.’

Give trees and shrubs an extra boost now with an application of fertilizer. A July sidedressing gives them time to put on new growth that will mature well before fall’s first cold spell. Apply two ounces of complete fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or 8-8-8, per 100 square feet, or if nitrogen is all that is needed, apply four ounces of ammonium nitrate per 100 square feet. Spread underneath the canopy out to the drip line.

There’s still time to root cuttings of many ornamental trees such as azalea, crape myrtle, abelia, dogwood, camellia, etc.

Air layering is an easy way to propagate many woody plants. Fruit trees such as apple, pear, peach, nectarine, plum, and apricot are easily propagated by this method. Ornamentals that respond well to this method are rubber plant, dracaena, dumbcane, croton, magnolia, holly, camellia, and azalea.

Discontinue the monthly feeding of azaleas and camellias after July. Do not prune azaleas after July 1st or you’ll be guilty of destroying many of next year’s flower buds in the process.

If your spring-flowering bulbs (tulips, daffodils, etc.) have not been dug and divided in the past three to five years and clumps are thick and crowded, they will benefit from being divided. Now that the foliage is brown and dry, dig the clumps of bulbs and set them in a dry, shady spot. Leave the soil on the clumps. After a few weeks of drying, you will be able to separate the bulbs without tearing the roots. Store your bulbs in a cool, dry place until planting time in the fall.

During the July heat, don’t be surprised if some blooms drop from bush beans, tomatoes, and peppers; however, you can ease some of the effects of the heat by watering well and applying a three-inch layer of mulch.

Cut back flowering annuals to promote new growth and flowering. Remove old flower stalks of perennials.

Prune blueberry and raspberry plants after all the fruit has been picked. The canes that bore fruit this year will soon die, so cut them back to ground level now. This will encourage fresh new canes which will bear fruit next year. Also, it is a good idea to thin out all but the healthiest canes on older plants, leaving one every six or eight inches.

When watering lawns and gardens, thorough soakings applied less often are much better than frequent light sprinklings. Why? Because plant roots will, when watering is deep, be encouraged to reach downward toward the moisture. The result is a greater network of roots and ultimately a larger and more vigorous plant canopy.

Try rooting suckers of tomato plants now for fresh new plants and a vigorous late fall tomato crop. Stick directly in the ground or in a pot and transplant later.

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, former Perry High School horticulture instructor, and former horticulturalist at Henderson Village and Houston Springs. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Lewis Farms Nursery located on Hwy 26 two miles east of Elko, where he was born and raised. He can be reached at (478)954-1507 or timlewis1@windstream.net.