July Garden Jargon

July brings peak summer weather here in zone 6. It’s the warmest month of the year, with the average daily temperature hovering around 76 degrees. With the garden checklist growing each month, July has no shortage of things to do. Everything in the garden should be growing in abundance—and that also includes weeds. Knowing what tasks should take center stage will help you manage and maintain your garden to get a great harvest.

Keep Growing

During the year’s hottest days, there is typically a lot on our mind. For instance, can I still plant things in July? The answer is: of course you can! To always have something harvestable in the garden, you should always have something growing. By now, you should be noticing spaces and gaps between crops, especially if you’re following the square foot gardening method. To me, it is space and opportunity! Try planting a determinate variety tomato or starting your second round of bush beans in your garden bed. If you have enough space, you can even transplant or direct sow summer squash. This is the time where I really appreciate succession planting. It lets you maximize your harvest possibilities and can allow you to grow well into the fall.

Speaking of which, start planning your fall garden now. Transitioning your summer garden into a fall one can help fill up some of the vacant spots in your garden bed. Starting seeds indoors of cold weather crops such as cabbage, broccoli, kale and collards is a good idea. Direct sowing seeds of beets, radishes, carrots and other leafy greens like lettuce is recommended towards the end of July into August to have a bountiful harvest before the fall frost.

Water, Water, Water!

As we experience days without water, it’s important that we get out to our gardens and water deeply at least once or twice per week. If you have a container garden, you’ll need to water more frequently to keep it thriving. Try watering during the early morning hours to decrease evaporation during the blistering mid-day heat. Watering in the evening can cause fungal diseases due to the chance that the leaves remain wet throughout the night.  Applying a 1-2 inch layer of mulch in your garden bed can also help retain moisture. For added protection, lay down cardboard or newspaper, then cover it with mulch. This prevents the sun from peeking into those tiny cracks between the chunks of mulch. It can also benefit your cool weather crops, who want nothing more but to bolt in the heat.

Weed Patrol

I’m sure you’ve noticed something else growing in abundance in your garden bed since spring. Weeds have likely been making themselves right at home and can become a nuisance if not maintained and controlled. Getting rid of them isn’t as bad as it seems. It’s just very labor intensive, especially if you’ve been avoiding this task. You can always harvest the dandelions and make an herbal tea or tincture!

Pesky Pests

Unfortunately, every gardener faces pest pressure from time to time. When learning how to manage the problem, you must first learn how to identify the culprits. Here are some of the most common vegetable garden pests that you will find here in zone 6.

Aphids: There are many species of aphids, so identifying them can be tricky. They can be a rainbow of colors, from brown, red, green or yellow to gray or black. They can be winged or non-winged, depending on the species and their stage of life. They typically affect tomatoes, lettuce, kale and cabbage. To prevent them from literally sucking the life out of your crops, you can simply spray them off with water or apply a row cover for protection. Neem oil and soaps are beneficial too. 

Cabbage Worms: Size matters! Catching this pest early is strongly recommended. Shooing away the adult white butterflies before they lay eggs on the underside of leaves of crops such as cabbage, broccoli, collards and kale will help decrease the damage from them in the caterpillar stage of their life. Identifying them before they cause any damage can be tricky because they’re typically the same shade of green as your leaves. A floating row cover is beneficial here also, but I like to use Diatomaceous Earth (DE), Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or Spinosad. But before trying one of these, try adding a false white butterfly cabbage moth deterrent on a stick near these crops. It has been proven that these pesky pests are territorial and dislike others invading their feeding grounds.

Flea Beetles: These are extremely small black or brown beetles that move very quickly and hop like a flea. Many different plants are hosts to flea beetles, but their favorites are radish, potatoes, tomatoes, brassicas, corn and eggplants. Practicing crop rotation can be a preventative measure when trying to control flea beetles. You can also try using a garlic or neem oil spray to rid your garden of this pest.