June & July Gardening Chores
June Checklist
July Checklist
Sources: Clemson University Extension Service.
Robert Polomski, Month-by-Month Gardening in the Carolinas.
Francis Worthington, The Piedmont Gardener.
- Look for tomato hornworms. Handpick and destroy. If the hornworms have tiny white eggs or cocoons attached, they are hosting beneficial parasitic wasps. Let nature run its course: The hornworm will die in due order, and the wasps will hatch and help prevent future problems.
- Keep an eye out for insects and mites.
- Check zinnias for powdery mildew; remove infected plants and thin the bed to improve air movement.
- Water newly planted centipede regularly.
- Fertilize warm-season grasses.
- Set mower height on high for fescue and other cool-season grasses so the longer blades shade the ground and cool the soil.
- Water fescue and other cool-season grasses to keep them green.
- Take softwood cuttings and root the cuttings in a moist, shaded location in a 50/50 mix of sand and peat moss.
- Prune spring-flowering shrubs that bloom before July 1 right
- after flowers fade. These include forsythia, spirea, deutzia, daphne, winter jasmine, camellia, azalea and weigela.
- Feed gumpo azaleas after they finish blooming. Prune lightly for a rounded but natural shape.
- Feed roses and continue routine maintenance including spraying, watering and deadheading.
- Prune climbing and rambling roses that bloom only once as soon as blooms fade. Remove old canes to the ground and partially cut back new canes if they are too long. Thin new canes to keep the climber/rambler neat and orderly.
- Cut back yellowed leaves of spring-flowering bulbs and dig up crowded bulbs. Replant larger bulbs. Water summer bulbs, if necessary.
- Remove faded blooms on perennials.
- Trim back chrysanthemums once or twice this month to promote bushiness.
- Lift and divide bearded iris after flowers fade. Cut leaves back by half to minimize water loss.
- Pinch back petunias, marigolds, zinnias and salvias at month’s end to encourage new flowers.
- Fertilize, deadhead and water annuals.
- Pull up and discard pansies.
- Remove flowers of dusty miller to keep leaves looking good.
- Water annuals from below to prevent leaf spot diseases.
- Cut back herbs for drying.
- Continue watering and fertilizing vegetables.
- Harvest crops as they begin to ripen.
- Dig onions when the tops turn yellow and fall over.
- Start eggplant, tomato and pepper transplants for fall harvest.
- Feed late strawberries after fruit is picked; feed ever-bearing
- and alpine strawberries to encourage continued production.
- Revitalize old and crowded strawberry patches.
- Fertilize bearing grapes with manure tea or fish emulsion.
- Cover blueberries with bird netting.
- Continue weeding.
July Checklist
- Cut fading flowers from crape myrtles and vitex.
- Do not fertilize azaleas, camellias or rhododendron after July.
- Prune French hydrangeas after bloom.
- Cut back wisteria vines.
- Water roses deeply at least once a week. Do not feed unless they are growing and seem to need it.
- Prune faded rose blossoms and cut back weak growth.
- Pinch back chrysanthemums for the last time.
- Divide and reset crowded bearded iris.
- Start biennials including foxglove, sweet William, hollyhock and money plant from seed. Transplant in early fall for bloom next year.
- Deadhead, fertilize and water annuals to spur new blooms.
- Cut back leggy annuals by a third to a half and apply liquid fertilizer to encourage new growth.
- Pinch off coleus flowers as they appear. Pinch tips of coleus to keep it compact.
- Plant basil seeds for fall crop.
- Continue cutting and drying herbs for winter use.
- Dig and harvest remaining white potatoes and onions.
- Pull and destroy diseased vegetable plants. Do not compost.
- Renew overgrown tomatoes by cutting off a third of growth.
- Fertilize with manure tea or liquid food.
- Plant another round of cucumbers, pole and bush beans and summer squash between July 1-15.
- Cut back poinsettia by a third to produce bushier plants.
- Wash off insects and mites with a strong stream of water or insecticidal soap. Insecticides and miticides also will control populations. Read the label.
- Handpick Japanese beetles from plants and drown them in a container of soapy water.
- Pull out and destroy plants infected with powdery mildew.
- Fertilize warm-season grasses but NOT centipede. Water well after fertilizing to prevent burn.
- Apply iron sulfate or iron chelate to centipede according to manufacturer’s recommended rate.
Sources: Clemson University Extension Service.
Robert Polomski, Month-by-Month Gardening in the Carolinas.
Francis Worthington, The Piedmont Gardener.