July Gardening in Indianapolis: Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Healthy
Think July is time to set your garden aside? Think again! While July can bring with it hot and humid days, it’s also a crucial time for certain gardening activities that will not only keep your garden looking great through summer, but also set you up for a vibrant fall garden. Let’s jump into some of the actions you can take to get the most out of your garden this summer.
The Flower Garden
Deadheading: July is a good time to pull out your favorite sharp pair of snips and do some deadheading on blooming annuals and perennials. This will encourage plants to continue making new flowers and refresh their appearance.
Fertilizing: It takes a lot of energy to bloom! Be sure to fertilize your spring blooming plants and any re-blooming plants you may have this month to give them a boost.
Pest Monitoring: Pests such as aphids and spider mites can crop up this time of year so be sure to monitor plants for any signs of stress. Often times humid periods will encourage aphids, and hot dry periods encourage spider mites.
Trees and Shrubs
Watering: If weather conditions have become hot and dry you’ll need to make sure your trees and shrubs get a deep watering every week or two. This is especially important for newly planted trees and shrubs that don’t yet have an established root system. You may need to add a soaker hose to keep new plantings healthy. If it is raining regularly, just make sure water is saturating 3-6 inches deep into the soil, otherwise if soil is try your plants may need a little extra help!
Mulching: If you planted new trees and shrubs this spring or early summer, now is a great time to add 1-2 inches of mulch around your plantings to help conserve moisture and cut down on weeds. Do not pile mulch up against tree trunks or shrub stems.
Weeding: If weeds have begun to take over, make sure you’re pulling them before they flower and go to seed to reduce the spread!
Lawn Care
Watering: Lawns need rainfall that is equal to about 1-1.5 inches of water each week. If it’s not raining this much, you may need to provide supplemental water. Remember, it’s always better to water lawns less frequently and more deeply than it is to water frequently but shallowly.
Mowing: It’s time to set those mower blades higher! You can set your mower blade up to 3.5-4 inches, which will help your lawngrass use less water and need less watering. Don’t mow your grass if it’s suffering from drought stress.
Fertilization: You may not need to fertilizer your lawn this month. However, if it has been raining a lot, more than average, and you have a heavy-feeder grass such as Kentucky bluegrass, you can apply a slow release nitrogen fertilizer at a rate of .75 lbs per 1000 square feet. Come talk to us if you need recommendations!
The Vegetable Garden
Watering: Be sure to keep up with watering in the veggie garden if it’s not raining regularly. Just like lawns, your veggies will need 1-1.5 inches worth of rainfall or manual watering per week. Certain crops will need more!
Time to Harvest: It’s harvesting season for crops such as tomatoes, squash, okra, pepper, beans and cucumbers. Don’t leave fruits on the plant for too long or your plants will put energy into making seed instead of more fruits. Unless of course you’re saving some fruits to harvest seed.
Planting: This month you can direct seed more plantings of bush beans and sweet corn into the garden to keep your harvests coming.
Start your Seeds! Now is the time to start seeds and transplants indoors for fall crops such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale and more! Make sure you’re set up with all the seeds you need as well as grow lighting, seed heat mats, and timers to grow strong seedlings.
There’s plenty to do both in your outdoor and indoor garden this month in Indianapolis to keep your garden fresh and beautiful, and keep up the momentum for your fall garden. Come by and see us this month and we’ll get you growing!