July Blog – What to do in the garden

Our Peat-Free Expert, Kate the Garden Guru shares top tips for gardening

July has arrived and with the sun still blazing down on our gardens, and barely a drop of rain, across the UK, we are really feeling the heat. With high temperatures and dry conditions becoming the norm, it’s more important than ever to adapt your gardening routine to help plants thrive. Whether you’re tending to thirsty borders, managing your lawn, or planning late-summer colour, here are some key jobs to keep your garden healthy and vibrant this month.

Here’s what to focus on in your garden this July:

Flowers and Ornamentals

July’s flower beds might be bursting with colour, but this summer’s heatwave is turning up the pressure on our plants! Roses have been blooming their hearts out and are almost out of puff, lavender is buzzing with bees, and annuals are flaunting their brightest petals—but they all need a little extra care to stay fabulous in the sun. Here’s how to keep your garden looking lush through the heat:

• Deadhead for More Colour: Snip off faded flowers from roses, dahlias, sweet peas and more to keep the blooms coming. It’s a quick job that makes a big difference—plus, it stops your garden looking crispy in the sun.
• Support the Stars: Tall stunners like delphiniums and sunflowers can take a beating from summer breezes. Stake them up with canes or stylish supports so they don’t flop mid-flower.
• Feed the Flowers: July’s heat and the constant flowering is super draining on our plants. Give your roses and other ornamentals a top-up with a high magnesium plant feed and treat bedding plants to a general liquid fertiliser boost to keep them thriving.
• Sow for Spring: There’s still time to stay ahead by sowing biennials like foxgloves, sweet William, and honesty now—your future self (and your garden) will thank you next spring.
• Weed Wisely: Hot days are a great time to weed. Weeds are competing with your plants for moisture, nutrients, and they harbour pests and disease. Hoe annual weeds and leave them on the soil for the sun to scorch and with tougher weeds, dig them up now, leave them in a sunny spot and let the heat of the sun fry them. You can then compost them

The Veg Garden

The veg garden in July is buzzing with action—and with the sun blazing down, it’s a month of both abundance and urgency. Summer favourites are ripening fast, and there’s still plenty you can sow now to keep the harvests coming well into autumn. Just be ready to water smartly and beat the heat!

• Pick and Keep Picking: Courgettes, beans, peas, and salad leaves are hitting their stride—harvest little and often to keep plants productive. And don’t forget strawberries! They’re at their sweetest now, so gather them while they’re bursting with flavour.
• Sow for a Second Wave: Still time to sow beetroot, carrots, spring onions, and greens such as lettuce and spinach will do best in a shadier area. Keep the momentum going with quick-turnaround crops like radishes and rocket for a steady late summer salad supply.
• Mound Up Those Spuds: Maincrop potatoes will need need earthing up now to protect tubers from sunlight (which turns them green and bitter) Use a good  peat free multi purpose compost which will protect them but also add extra nutrients.
• Water Like a Pro: In this heat, fruit and veg are thirsty! Water early in the morning or late evening to minimise evaporation and aim low—straight to the roots. A good soak every few days beats a light sprinkle daily. It’s especially important to avoid watering the foliage of plants like courgettes and cucumbers as this can encourage fungal disease, especially prevalent in this heat wave.

Lawns

Lawn looking a little sun-scorched? July’s heat can be tough on grass, but a few smart tweaks can help:

• Mow high: If your lawn is still growing, keep cutting, but raise the blade to its highest settings in dry spells to reduce stress.
• Water smart: If your lawn has turned brown, don’t panic -most established lawns bounce back once the rains return, but new turf or seed will need a good soak—water early or late to avoid evaporation, but always check that there isn’t a hose pipe ban in your area.
• Patch it up: Even in hot, dry weather you can still re seed bare spots using a mix of grass seed and peat-free soil improver to help boost germination and retain moisture. Rake the bare patch, mix the seed with the compost and sprinkle over the prepared area. Keep watered until it grows strongly.
• Edge & tidy: Quick trims around borders instantly sharpen the look.
• Feeding: Hold off on any granular fertiliser during hot, dry weather—it can do more harm than good. Instead use a soluble lawn feed that you can apply whilst also watering the lawn.

Pots, Containers & Hanging Baskets

Containers are summer showstoppers—but they work hard for it! Packed with vibrant, often bedding plants and exposed to full sun, they dry out fast and quickly run low on nutrients. Give them a little extra love this month to keep the colour coming.

• Water like clockwork: In hot weather, check your pots morning and evening—especially hanging baskets, which dry out fastest. Grouping containers together helps shade roots and reduce evaporation as well as making watering easier.
• Feed to flourish: A weekly liquid feed will keep flowers blooming and fruiting plants productive. Think of it as their summer energy drink!
• Deadhead for impact: Snip off faded blooms as soon as you spot them. It keeps displays tidy and encourages fresh flowers right through to the end of summer.
• Refresh tired pots: If anything’s looking straggly or scorched, don’t be afraid to swap it out for something fresh—mid-summer is a great time to give tired containers a mini-makeover.
• Top up: with pots crammed full of plants often the compost can get used up really quickly and sometimes will shrink in the pot. Carefully add more peat free compost to your pots after watering to keep your plants happy and healthier for longer.

Wildlife

It’s not just our plants that struggle in the heat, our wildlife does too.

• Top up any ponds or water features you may have. Tap water can be used but if you fill up a few buckets and leave them overnight, the water will be better for the pond.
• Fill shallow saucers with pebbles before adding water for insects like butterflies and bees, the pebbles will stop them from drowning in the water.
• Add some shady areas in the garden by utilising pots of plants like ferns and fatsias. Place some logs nearby to create a cool haven for wildlife.
• Don’t dead head everything: Plants like alliums, verbenas and poppies provide homes and food.

Pest and Disease

With heat and abundance comes challenge. July’s warmth brings us beauty but also unwelcome guests.

• Monitor for Pests: Check plants daily for aphids, caterpillars, lily beetles, slugs and snails. Remove by hand or use wildlife-friendly deterrents.
• Check for Disease: Black spot-on roses and powdery mildew on courgettes can spread quickly. Remove affected leaves and dispose of them away from your compost pile.
• Even in the July heat, mulching your beds can lock in moisture, keep roots cool and protect from disease. Use a rotted manure or a peat free soil improver after watering to protect your beds.

Other Jobs

The long, warm evenings are ideal for tackling projects that enhance your garden for the rest of the season—and beyond.

• Prune Shrubs: Trim wisteria, rambler roses and early-flowering shrubs after they have finished blooming.
• Divide Overgrown Perennials: If the soil is moist, clumps of bearded iris and other spring-flowering perennials can be divided now.
• Semi ripe cuttings: Have a go at taking semi-ripe cuttings, these have hard wood at the base but still have soft tips. Take cuttings of climbers such as passion flower, jasmine and solanum as well as shrubs such as fatsia, hebe and holly. I often use this technique to propagate herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme

July Is for Enjoying Your Garden

After all the watering, feeding, and deadheading, don’t forget the best part—actually enjoying your space! Whether you’ve got a large garden, a courtyard, or a few pots on the patio, July is peak season for sitting back and soaking it all in.

Fire up the barbecue surrounded by the scent of jasmine and roses, snip a few blooms to brighten your home, or simply sit with a cool drink as the sun sets, and the garden comes alive with birdsong.

Gardening in July is equal parts care and celebration. Among all the jobs, take a moment to breathe it in—your own little oasis, however big or small.