Southern Plains July Garden To-Do List

Reduce the mosquito population in your yard and garden . While mosquitoes are n’t technically a garden pest , they are a serious gardener pest . This is a clock time of year when we are all likely to be ply out of our own gardens by swarms of mosquitoes . Do what you may to reduce the mosquito universe in your vicinity . Get rid of sources of standing water system in gutters , bucket , garden cart , or other container . If you have decorative pond or rain - catchment barrel that pull in mosquito larvae , a simple solvent is to add a few goldfish to the container ( assuming it is big enough ) . The goldfish will feed in on the larvae and provide an cheap , nontoxic , and unproblematic path to control mosquitoes .

Solarize novel sphere for gloaming garden beds . It ’s not too presently to take up preparing new garden beds for the fall . If you are converting a weedy or grassy sphere to a garden bed , you will need to polish off weeds and weed . I typically loosen them with a shovel and then rend them out by hand . Kids can aid with this job too . This method acting may not be feasible for a declamatory orbit . In the yesteryear it was recommended that gardeners muffle this grass and weed stratum with overlapping layer of cardboard , or that they kill the eatage and weed seeds by solarizing . late enquiry has shown that both methods can interfere with the soil food WWW , a worthful author of fertility rate for your garden . A book by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis , Teaming With Microbes : The Organic Gardener ’s Guide to the Soil Food Webis a great resourcefulness for learning more about this issue . In fact , July is a expectant clip to read this Good Book while taking a well - deserve faulting from the heat !

start up preparing bed for your fall vegetable garden . Now is the gross prison term to train for your free fall veg garden , since you will be able to set about plant some crop next month . Spend this calendar month cleaning up any garden debris , including utter or diseased plants . As you pull in out spent plants at the end of their generative season , you’re able to wrench the grunge and add compost to those areas in formulation for fall planting .

Order seed for your free fall vegetable garden . It ’s metre to get out those beautiful seed catalogs ( or take out up those beautiful seeded player internet site ) and fiat source for your fall garden , specially for the crops that can go into the solid ground in August or September : beans , maize , cucumber , lettuce , squash , and watermelon vine . Do n’t forget to also tell seed for the brassica vegetable ( broccoli , Brassica oleracea botrytis , kale , collards , kohlrabi ) that you will be depart indoors in August and that will be transpose in recent September or other October .

Watch out for the estrus . July in the Southern Plains is invariably red-hot , with many day hitting 100 ° F . For those of us who spend a lot of clock time outdoors , it can be a material challenge to do the work we desire and need to do in the garden without risking rut debilitation . Here are a few tricks I ’ve learned over the years for stay cool :

— Karen Beaty is a horticulturalist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin , Texas .

Fine Gardening Recommended product

Lee Valley Mini Garden Shear Set

Fine horticulture incur a committal for point purchase through contact on this situation , including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs .

Black & Decker 40 - Volt Cordless Hedge Trimmer

Get our latest peak , how - to articles , and instructional videos sent to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Southern Plains November Garden To-Do List

Southern Plains September Garden To-Do List

Southern Plains October Garden To-Do List

Southern Plains August Garden To-Do List

bring together Fine Gardening for a free engaging bouncy webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned plant diagnostician as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals technological director …

When I spotted a finical sand dollar cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delicious color traffic pattern …

When we only prioritize plants we want over plant our landscape needs , each season is replete with a never - cease list of chores : pruning , pinch , watering , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be measured when you enter the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to actuate on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a brace …

4 Midsummer Favorites From a Plant Breeder’s Garden

Episode 181: Plants You Can’t Kill

Episode 180: Plants with Big, Bold Foliage

4 Steps to Remove Invasive Plants in Your Yard

All Access member get more

Sign up for afree trialand get admission to ALL our regional content , plus the rest of the member - only capacity depository library .

originate Free Trial

Get thoroughgoing site access to expert advice , regional message , and more , plus the mark magazine .

go your costless trial

Already a member?enter

garden water feature

If you have a water feature on your property, consider adding goldfish to control the mosquito population.Photo: Marilyn Brackney

Prepping bed for solarizing

There are a number of different ways to prepare garden beds for planting; look into pros and cons before you try anything that could damage your soil’s microbiome.Photo: Karen Beaty

removing garden debris