Tips For Keeping Your Lawn Green and Your Garden Happy in July

As temperatures continue to soar across the U.S., many people are using more and more water just to keep their green grass alive and healthy. For drought tolerant grass even in the driest of climates, use water-saving Revive. Check out these tips for other lawn and garden maintenance tips to check off your list in these hot summer months:
July Lawn & Garden To-Do List
Rainfall is scarce in July, and soaring temperatures can cause your garden and lawn to slow down and conserve energy. Vegetable gardens kick into high gear and will need some extra attention to stay happy. Other plants in your garden can benefit from special treatment as well. Here are some tips for your lawn and garden during the month of July.
Trees and Shrubs
• Prune dead, damaged, or diseased branches to prevent them from falling during summer storms.
• Remove suckers by yanking downward to remove the growth bud.
• Prune spring flowering shrubs early in the month, then leave them alone to set buds for next year. Summer and fall flowering shrubs should not be pruned unless badly overgrown while nonblooming hedges can be trimmed as needed.
• Deadhead roses and other flowering shrubs so they will continue blooming.
• Plants suffering from iron deficiency will benefit from an application of chelated iron.
• Stop fertilizing trees and shrubs to allow them to reduce growth during the heat of summer.
• Continue planting and transplanting container-grown trees and shrubs, but give them extra water and shade protection, if possible.
• Apply extra mulch around the roots of trees and shrubs to hold in moisture.
• Avoid digging or cultivating around shallow-rooted plants or otherwise disturbing the roots.
• Take softwood cuttings of shrubs such as hydrangea, buddleia, rose, and Rose of Sharon.
• Water trees infrequently, but deeply.
Perennials and Bulbs
• For fall blooms, shear back chrysanthemums and asters until mid month at the latest.
• Give a light haircut to bushy or leggy perennials to encourage blooming.
• Stop deadheading perennials if you want to collect seed pods from them.
• Areas with longer summers have time for one more planting of gladiolus.
• Support vines and tall plants with trellises or stakes.
• Cut flowers in the early morning when the stems are plump.
• Order your spring blooming bulbs now for the best selection.
• Divide and transplant Oriental poppies this month.
Lawns
• Continue mowing as needed, at the highest setting for your lawn type (3”- 4” for cool-season grasses, 2”- 3” for warm-season grasses).
• Make sure your lawn gets at least one inch of water per week.
• If water is scarce, consider allowing cool-season fescue or bluegrass to go dormant for the summer.
• Mulch grass clippings to help shade, cool, and feed your lawn.
• Edge planting beds with a string trimmer or lawn edger, for a nice clean look.
• Plant warm-season grasses and keep watered.
• Stop fertilizing lawns in midsummer.
• Make sure lawn mower blades are sharp, so they cut cleanly.
Annuals and Containers
• Water container plants daily (or even twice a day) this month.
• Add a balanced fertilizer every couple of weeks.
• Deadhead faded blossoms to increase blooming.
• Pinch back leggy stems to encourage branching.
• Start seeds for pansies and other winter annuals.
—Read the full article at todayshomeowner.com

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