Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Months of June and July Gardening Tasks

By June, all your flowers and vegetables should be planted, unless you live where there is a very late frost danger. Maintaining and encouraging growth and bearing are your objects now.

Watering and feeding is of utmost importance. Do not forget the plants when you are suffering from a heat wave or low humidity. It is amazing how much water can be pulled up from the ground in a very short time. Check your beds daily, watering in the early AM so that they are fresh under the hot afternoon sun.

Feed according to what you are growing. Buy vegetable, foliage and flower fertilizers, reading the directions carefully, and then follow them. Do not feed any plant when it is water-stressed, as the roots will burn easily. Stick to the proper dosage and repetition.

Maintain the plants diligently. Prune off weak, sickly, yellow or dead branches and leaves. Discard away from the beds, as they may be harboring insects or diseases. Look at the leaves carefully, and be aware of any changes you see. If you stay a step ahead of a problem, its solution will be all the easier.

Weed all around your plants. If this presents physical problems, space the work out. Do one or two areas a day and then rest. Keep the weeds under control and remove before they flower. Setting seed is a major way that weeds stick around and cause more work for the gardener.

If you are going away on vacation, even for a long weekend, have someone water your garden beds and lawns, so that when you return, they will be fresh in spite of what weather they had to endure in your absence. Then, sit back and enjoy your vegetables and take pleasure in your cut flowers or outside foliage and floral displays!