Tag Archives: garden

Jobs to do in the garden in July

July is normally the month when I try to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labours!  But there are still some essential tasks that need doing in the garden:

  • Continue hoeing weeds when it is warm so they will simply shrivel on the surface and you can gather them up.
  • Cut back hardy geraniums after flowering – some varieties will then flower again.
  • Continue deadheading perennial such as Geums and Penstemons to encourage continual flowering.
  • Prune early-summer flowering shrubs such as Philadelphus and Weigela.  I normally cut back the flowered growth to a strong lower shoot and with larger specimens thin out up to a fifth of the old, woody stems.
  • Water your clematises and honeysuckle in long, dry spells to discourage powdery mildew.
  • Continue deadheading roses to encourage flowering.
  • Keep an eye on shrubs with variegated foliage and cut out any that has reverted making sure you go right back to the source.
  • Start summer pruning wisteria by cutting back any long, whippy shoots to five or six buds from a main stem.
  • Stake dahlias if required before they grow too tall and start bending over!
  • Prune cherry and plum trees after fruiting by removing weak, damaged and crossing branches and thin slightly if required.

Redesign of cottage garden, Tisbury, Wiltshire

The brief was to redesign the whole garden to make it more streamline and lower maintenance.  The central oval border in the front border was completely redesigned to create a summer flowering bee-friendly border planted with hardy geraniums, scabiosas, phlox, astrantias, asters and aquilegias, the existing narrow border by the path was removed, the whole area re-turfed and the gravel path edged with stone to define the border.

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Front garden before
Front garden after
Front garden after

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A  small patio was designed for the back garden to catch the sun and the view and edged with a low lavender hedge.  The narrow rose border was removed and the roses re-planted in the side border which was under planted with white cistus, nepeta and edged with hardy geraniums. The rest of the garden was re-turfed.

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Back garden after
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Back garden before