Added on July 8, 2019  Sara Swanson

July 2019 gardening advice

by Jennifer Fairfield, Garden Mill

With all the rain we got in May and June, many of our gardens are way behind where they normally would be at this point. This year was the latest I have ever planted my veggie garden, and I just never got around to some things, like peas. I did plant radishes, lettuce, and spinach in June, which I would normally never do, but I figured I would give it a try just in case the weather decided to stay cool all the way through the summer. That obviously didn’t happen, but those veggies haven’t bolted yet, so who knows – I may still get to eat some of them.
 
There’s a lot to do this month in the garden and yard, but I’ll be doing it early in the morning or late in the evening, to avoid the heat while it sticks around.
 
In the veggie garden:
  

• All the rain we got has made conditions ripe for diseases in the vegetable garden, so be sure to keep up a regular schedule of spraying with your favorite organic fungicide. MSU extension is saying that we should be on the lookout for cucumber downy mildew (which can affect watermelon and cantaloupe in addition to cucumbers), and early blight is already being seen in tomatoes in Michigan. If you haven’t seen any sign of disease yet in your garden – great. But don’t let down your guard. These diseases can’t really be cured – only prevented. So treat your plants now, and keep treating them weekly. My go-to fungicide for these issues is Serenade Garden Disease Control. Spray your plants weekly with this, and reapply if we get rain. If you are already seeing early signs of disease, Espoma’s Copper Soap can help keep it under control long enough to get some harvest. Copper-based products are not my first choice because they can be harmful to things like earthworms (which are really good for our gardens), and can also be harmful to bees. So use it only when really needed, and apply it in the evening, after bees have gone to bed, to minimize the chances of them coming into contact with it.
  
• Another disease of concern this year because of all the rain is phytophthora root rot – a fungus that can affect many plants, including cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, clematis, lilies, sedum, and many trees and shrubs (this is not a complete list!). MSU extension has reported issues with this disease in peppers already this season. The best way to keep this disease at bay is good drainage. If you are seeing signs of Phytpthora root rot, the best thing you can do is pull the plants that are affected so that you lessen the chances of it spreading to other plants. There are really no treatments that have proven effective once this disease infects your plants.

• One key to preventing the spread of disease in your garden is to not do too much when everything is wet. You can easily transport disease from one plant to another with your tools, hands, and anything else that comes in contact with the plants, such as gloves or clothing. When things are wet, it’s much easier for casual contact to result in a disease hitching a ride as you move from plant to plant. Reducing the amount of time you spend in the garden when it’s wet will help reduce the chances of your being the cause of the spread of disease. Whenever you are in the garden, be sure to clean your tools in between plants. I keep a bottle of rubbing alcohol handy for this purpose. I give my pruners and sheers a quick wipe with an alcohol-soaked rag after doing any trimming or harvesting with them, before I move onto another plant.
  
• The rain (followed by this heat) has certainly made all the weeds happy! It’s a real challenge to keep on top of weeds right now, but it’s necessary, because they can get out of control quickly. Weeds are another way some diseases get spread to your garden plants, so keeping them out can only help in the fight against disease.

• This month is time to fertilize or “side dress” your vegetable plants. This will give the plants a little extra boost when they need it most. By this time, the plants have used up most of the available nutrition in your garden (or it’s been diluted by all the rain). Providing a little more fertilizer at this point will help your garden produce more. Don’t just sprinkle it on top, though – carefully work it into the top inch or so of soil. Fertilizer left on top of the soil often will just wash away before it can break down and be useful to the plant. Don’t get any closer than about four inches from the stem of the plant, both to prevent damaging the roots and because you want the food to be available to the new root growth as the plant is growing and putting out more roots.

• July is also a time for planting and starting new seedlings for fall harvest. Broccoli and cabbage make good succession crops (crops planted after another crop has been harvested). Start them inside by no later than July 10. Transplant the seedlings into your garden when they are four to six weeks old, and expect to harvest by early October. Other succession plants that can be direct seeded in your garden late this month include lettuce, spinach, peas, beets, carrots, and Swiss chard.
  
• In addition to diseases and weeds, pests are really getting going in the garden now. So far, I haven’t seen a great deal of damage to my veggies from insects, though I have notices some holes that look like flea beetle damage. I have been seeing cabbage moths fluttering about, so will be on the lookout for their eggs on my kale and other cruciferous plants over the next few weeks. The caterpillars can do a lot of damage if left to their own devices, so I want to get to them early. Picking them off and squishing them is a very effective way to control them. For other pests, insecticidal soap can be very effective when sprayed directly on the culprit. Using organic insecticides is better because they don’t persist on the plants for as long, and therefore aren’t as likely to kill bees, but be careful not to spray when bees are visiting your plants, as anything you use to kill other insects can also kill bees.
  
• I wish that, because we got a lot of rain in May and June, we could skip watering the rest of the summer. But we all know it doesn’t work that way. So make sure that your plants are getting an inch of water every week – whether from you or Mother Nature.

In the flower garden:

• Give your flowering plants a little fertilizer boost now too. They’re busy putting on a good show for you, and that takes a lot of energy, so help them out with some added nutrition. Fertilize flowers in containers weekly.
  
• Deadheading is also key to keeping a lot of your plants flowering. If you let the spent flowers go to seed, many plants will stop producing flowers and work on maturing the seeds. While that may help the plant produce offspring, it doesn’t help you if your goal is more flowers this year. Deadheading is important for most annuals and many perennials.
   
• Make note of plants that are looking leggy or are showing signs of thinning or dying back at the center. This is an indication that you need to do some dividing. Dividing should be done when the plants are not in bloom, so wait until after they have finished blooming. Late summer or early fall is often the best time to divide and replant, but be sure to get this task done early enough to allow the plant to get some root growth going before the cold sets in.

• Put supports in for taller plants to keep them from flopping over as they grow.
  
• Don’t forget to water your flower gardens when we aren’t getting at least an inch of rain each week. This is especially important when it’s as hot as it’s been this past week. Plants in containers need to be watered even more frequently, as they dry out much more quickly. 

Lawn:  

• With all the rain, it’s been hard to keep up with mowing. Remember to only take off the top third of the grass blades each time you mow. Mowing off more than that causes the grass to put more energy into growing leaf than into growing roots, which stresses the roots, and therefore the entire plant. It’s better to mow more frequently than to cut off too much all at once.
  
• Also remember to keep your grass cut to no lower than 3 inches. This helps to suppress weeds in the grass, and helps provide shade to the roots during the hot sunny days of summer.
• Try not to walk on the lawn too much or use heavy equipment when it’s really wet. Doing so can compact the soil, especially if you have heavy clay soil as most of us in SE Michigan do. Compacted soil makes it hard for the roots of your grass to get the air they need, which can kill the grass (or any plant).
  

Trees & Shrubs 

• Don’t be surprised if some of your trees have leaves turning yellow and dropping now. If the leaves are yellow or tan, with no or few spots, the likely cause is all the rain we had, followed by the sudden extreme heat, and your trees should be fine, as long as they aren’t recent transplants (last year or this year). Young trees that haven’t had time to really put roots down may suffer more stress than they can recover from (though you may not know for sure until next year), but older, more established trees should be fine.
  
• Trees planted this year and even late last year should be watched for water needs now. Just like with your veggies and flowers, if we aren’t getting about an inch a week, you should provide supplemental water for them. Their roots are not established enough to be able to get the water they need from the ground, especially during extended periods of heat and dry conditions, so they need your help to survive.
   
• Do not apply fertilizer to trees or shrubs after the 4^th of July, to avoid a flush of new growth that doesn’t have time to harden before winter, and don’t prune after early August. Pruning can also stimulate new growth.

For the birds:
  

• Keep your feeders cleaned out and filled. Ditto for your birdbaths.