July is a busy month in the garden and it is all to do with weeding, watering, deadheading and most of all enjoying the show.
Keep on top of weeds in your borders, especially around new plants that are establishing themselves.
Water containers daily in hot weather and keep a close eye on new plants in borders which will need watering in their first season. Mulching around new plants will help lock in moisture. If you have a large area of new planting, consider putting in a temporary leaky pipe around the plants to help watering – useful if you are going on holiday, if you put an automatic timer on the garden tap, then you can relax on holiday knowing your plants are well watered.
Deadhead perennials and shrubs once flowering has finished, especially roses to allow repeat flowering.
Top up water levels in ponds and water reservoirs.
Continue to keep an eye out for slugs, snails and aphids, I removed around a dozen snails off my flowering Iris last week.
Keep bird feeders and bird water bowls topped up.
Don’t forget the insects in the garden too, below is a picture taken at the Chelsea Flower Show in May of some very stylish insect hotels.
