What to do in the garden this July

Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener is helping Sunshine Coast gardeners grow on their food growing journey. Each month she shares her top tips from garden tasks to what to plant and harvest.

July is typically our last ‘short winter’ month and there’s still time to sow many winter crops.

Make sure to prepare your soil well before planting for the best results

Do a seasonal health check: Check your soil structure, soil pH, moisture, nutrients and organic matter.
Restock the ‘pantry’: Add soil amendments and reuse ingredients you already have, where possible, to feed your soil.
Add water and mulch: Before planting, give your plants access to soil nutrients and a protective mulch layer.

Also try to sow after it rains or is watered so the soil is moist

Should you sow seeds or seedlings?

That depends! Does your vegetable or herb have a long seed germination period?

If it’s quick (<7 days) and a fast-to-mature crop like lettuce, you can sow seeds, raise seedlings and harvest your crop while the weather is still cool.

If your seeds germinate slowly (8-21+ days) and take 2-3 months to mature, it’s another story! You may be pushing it to get a harvest onto your plate before warmer weather returns in spring (August/September) or even our ‘sprummer’ transitional season (October/November).

That can be a tricky time of year! It may be quicker and a safer bet to plant seedlings for winter crops at this time of year. Especially if you aren’t already raising seedlings for crops like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.

Sun, Shade and Climate

Thankfully, pests and diseases are minimal during July. Many insects tend to overwinter due to cold temperatures. Average lower humidity (<70%) means fewer disease problems.

make the most of this time by growing cool-season vegetables and herbs
sow little and often (succession plant) for a continuous harvest of fresh ingredients.
if your garden is shadier with shorter days, remember you can still plant a wide variety of shade-tolerant edibles
daylight hours are shorter in winter but start to lengthen again after the June winter solstice. So, observe your sun/shade zones and microclimates
prioritise positions for plants that need full sun positions (6 hours of direct sunlight/day). Fruiting crops and fruit trees especially! Move containers around on portable trolleys or castors to catch the sun during the day if you have limited sunlight or consider planting vertically. Watch your local weather conditions.

Lawns

While you’re likely enjoying not mowing as often, lawns can struggle to maintain health in July. You’ll likely see more weeds emerging.

stay on top of the mowing and whipper snipping to avoid seed heads forming
top dress with a light layer of compost and rock minerals, watered in with liquid seaweed and diluted Epsom salts. This encourages strong root development and a thicker thatch to minimise weeds. Less weeding later, right?
leave the catcher off your mower to self-mulch and return nutrients to the soil for a healthier lawn.

Citrus Trees

Have you pruned your citrus trees yet? If not, there’s only a short window left! You need to ‘read’ each tree to observe when they become dormant for a brief period. They will finish fruiting before taking a wee break and getting ready to flower again - usually by the end of July or early August.

Now is the time to shape each tree and prune back as needed for next season’s growth. If you miss this critical timing, you’ll have to wait another year!
support new growth with extra slow-release nutrients
remineralise, add organic matter and mulch along with trace elements like liquid seaweed
if you want to plant more fruit trees in July, try to source bare-rooted varieties to save money on your urban orchard. Plant them now when dormant as they won’t suffer transplant shock. The root system will be settled in by the time warmer spring temperatures arrive.

Pruning + Maintenance

When most fruit trees, berries, climbers, perennials and ornamentals are dormant in winter, it’s an ideal time to prune. Shape any straggly growth to encourage new leaves, buds, flowers and fruit.

Do you live in one of the few places that suffer frost? If so, watch the forecast!
Cover and protect your plants to prevent damage with crop covers, thick mulch, a cloche, fleece or thermal fabric. Some areas are also prone to strong winds that can seriously damage crops, especially climbing vegetables like peas and beans
install windbreaks or secure stakes and trellises. Exposed areas will be especially vulnerable to August winds
importantly, spend some time planning and reflecting on your garden. What has grown well? What struggled? Using a garden journal is an especially valuable tool to make more informed decisions about plants, problems and solutions. Learn more about the benefits of keeping records here.

Fertilising and Replenishing Nutrients

Plants don’t grow as strongly over the cooler months, so they don’t have the same water needs. Adjust your watering to avoid wastage or rotting crops like garlic and onions.

save rainwater any way you can because early spring doesn’t usually get as much rain and every drop counts
top up with compost and worm castings for nutrient-rich soil and enriched potting mix for food crops. Prepare soil now for strong spring growth. Remineralise and add trace elements with plenty of organic matter like fallen leaves, prunings, grass clippings and mulch
Tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower (we eat the flower part remember) and other fruiting crops will benefit from a sprinkle of potash from your fireplace, Sulphate of Potash or a mineral blend with potassium to boost flower production. Water in well. Always pH test your soil each season too
the onion family does NOT like nitrogen-rich fertilisers as they attract aphids with fast sappy growth. Compost and liquid nutrients are ideal and keep your garlic weed-free. Garlic hates competition!
container gardens may need fresh potting mix before new plantings to replenish organic matter and nutrients. Follow my potting mix guide to improve bagged potting mix or make your own with easily available ingredients for a long-lasting, moisture and nutrient-holding soil. Lifeless, dry dead dirt won’t grow healthy produce so invest in your health by focusing on your soil first.

You can also use this guide to make 5 organic seed raising mix recipes.

What to Plant in July

If you’re not sure when each of our five seasons starts and ends, or what to plant each month, refer to the perpetual Subtropical Planting Guide.

This is an ideal time for sowing

asian greens, beans, beetroot, all brassicas (broccoli, kale, rocket, tatsoi, cauliflower, cabbages), broad beans
capsicum, carrots, celery, chard, chia, cool-season green manures
eggplant, garlic, leek, lettuce, mizuna, mustard, peas, potato, perpetual spinach
radish, silverbeet, spring onions and cherry tomatoes.

If you are impatient for peas and beans, sow dwarf/bush varieties first, then climbers. The bush peas and beans will produce flowers and pods earlier than climbing varieties because these need to put on more leaf growth before flowering.

The dwarfs will give you a quick crop and 3-4 harvests. By then, your climbers will be producing plenty of peas and beans and will last much longer, so you can extend the harvest.

A simple strategy for enjoying these vegetables for longer. Sow some peas as microgreens for crunchy pea shoots. Watch video here.

If you want to save money instead of buying seeds or seedlings, watch this video to help you learn how to grow food for free from kitchen ‘waste’. The tips are so easy to apply and sustainable.

Fruits

so many options including:

tropical apples, black sapote, blueberry
carambola, citrus, coffee
feijoa, grape, guava, kiwifruit
mulberry, nectarine, olive, papaya, passionfruit, peach (try tropical and dwarf varieties), pomegranate
strawberry runners - strawberries will be flowering and fruiting now. if your ‘mother’ strawberry plants are throwing runners, separate them and feed up well with compost and liquid seaweed to boost new root and shoot growth.

Herbs

american upland or land cress, angelica, borage, calendula, catnip, chamomile, chervil, chicory, chives, coriander (slow bolt), dill, fennel,
herb robert, hyssop, lavender, lemon balm, lovage, marjoram, mint, nasturtium, oregano
parsley, perennial 'sawtooth' or mexican coriander, rocket, rosemary
sage, salad burnet, thyme, watercress, winter savory and winter tarragon.

Flowers

calendula, cornflower, dianthus
marigold, lobelia, nemesia, pansy, petunia
sweet alyssum, phlox, snapdragon, statice, strawflower, sweet pea and viola.

TIP

Interplant your herbs and flowers between vegetables (particularly brassicas) to attract beneficial predator insects to keep caterpillars and other insects in balance.

Issues to watch out for

Fruit fly is a threat we all live with. Mild winter temperatures can cause them to arrive earlier, with more generations recurring over coming months. Put your traps in place to minimise damage and control the life cycle. Other strategies that may help are to: 1) Select early fruiting trees, to miss the fruit fly attack. 2) Grow dwarf varieties or keep fruit trees small. 3) Cover with suitable exclusion netting.

Plant Nasturtiums to attract the Cabbage White Butterfly to lay eggs on these plants instead of your brassicas. Sacrificial plants make it easy to squish caterpillars in one spot instead of all over your garden.

Try interplanting Land cress or American Upland Cress to attract Cabbage Moths or Diamond Back Moths as a ‘dead end trap crop’ instead of your cabbage family edibles. The saponins in the leaves are toxic to the baby caterpillars, so they die, breaking the lifecycle.

A sneaky but effective strategy. Decoys, exclusion nets, cloches for young seedlings, interplanting and other organic controls can help you manage these pests.

Garden Tasks

Replant strawberry runners and fertilise berries. Prune old asparagus ferns, feed and mulch.
Divide and transplant arrowroot, garlic chives and other clumping plants.
Prune grape and passionfruit vines to remove dead stems and any deciduous fruit trees.
Feed, weed and mulch around fruit trees if you haven’t already done so.
Maintain your tools, build garden beds while it’s cool and get vertical structures ready for spring planting.
Grow sprouts or microgreens from sprouting seeds. If the weather is too cold, consider sprouting or growing healthy raw leafy vegetables and herbs as microgreens. Both techniques are quick and easy ways to grow food all year round while providing nutritious tasty ingredients for meals.
Harvest turmeric and ginger. Chop and drop leaves as mulch. Grate and freeze in ice cube portions. Leave the ‘mother’ plant in-situ and harvest what you need. There will be a bigger harvest next season and you can just use a sharp knife to cut what you need during the year.