Gardening By Month:
January Gardening
February Gardening
March Gardening
April Gardening
May Gardening
June Gardening
July Gardening
August Gardening
September Gardening
October Gardening
November Gardening
December Gardening
July Gardening
July Gardening - For gardeners July is in one respect like January; everything depends on the weather. It may be hot, with frequent heavy rains, and vegetation in the most luxuriant growth; or the earth may be iron and the heavens brass, with scarcely a green blade to be seen. The light flying showers that usually occur in July do not render watering unnecessary; in fact, a heavy soaking of a crop after a moderate rainfall is a valuable aid to its growth, for it requires a long-continued heavy downpour to penetrate to the roots.
Summer-sown Vegetables for Autumn and Winter use - As the month advances early crops will be finished and numerous plots of ground become vacant. In many gardens it is now the practice to sow in July and August seeds of quick-growing varieties of Vegetables and Salads to furnish supplies through the autumn and early winter months, and this system is strongly to be commended. These sowings not only increase the cropping capacity of the garden but they extend the use of many favourite Vegetables which from spring sowings customarily cease at the end of summer.
Two things are essential to success. Early-maturing varieties only should be sown and the plants must be thinned immediately they appear (thus avoiding transplanting), so that they receive no check in growth. The following subjects are especially suited for the purpose: Dwarf French Beans (sow early in July), Beet, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower (sow early in July), Italian Corn Salad, Cress, Endive, Kohl Rabi, Lettuce, Onion, Parsley, Peas, Radish, Spinach, and Turnip. Potatoes may also be planted in July, but only tubers of early varieties saved from the preceding year should be used.
Garden Rubbish -is apt to accumulate in odd corners and become offensive. The stumps of Cabbages and Cauliflowers give off most obnoxious odours, and neighbours ought not to be annoyed by want of thought in one particular garden. The short and easy way with all soft decaying rubbish is to put it at the bottom of a trench when preparing land for planting. There it ceases to be a nuisance and becomes a valuable manure.Source: The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots, 16th Edition 1921, Sutton and Sons