July in the garden

Do your plants and the environment a favor by using grass clippings and leaves or pine needles in your landscape instead of sending them to the landfill.
Use these beneficial materials around shrubs and trees. Mulch moderates soil temperature, blocks weed growth, retains moisture, and adds nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. Mulch can be the lifeline for plants as they struggle through the hottest part of the summer.
After crape myrtles finish blooming, remove flowering heads if you can reach them. This may encourage another bloom before the end of summer.
Prune hydrangeas and gardenias after they finish flowering.
Annuals that have grown leggy may be cut back now so that they will be full in the fall. Trim impatiens, begonias, narrow-leaf zinnias and annual salvias back by one-third. They will grow back more rapidly if some foliage is left on the plants. Water and fertilize with a slow-release, granular fertilizer. Reapply mulch if needed.
Late June or early July is a good time to root camellia, gardenia, azalea, aucuba, and other woody shrubs, as the wood is now just beginning to harden but is still in the growing mode. Root by stripping the lower leaves from four- to six-inch cuttings and sticking them in moist, well-drained soil. Keep moist.
Keep a lookout for butterflies in the garden. Plant plenty of lantana, pentas, or butterfly bush as a nectar source, and be sure that the garden includes plenty of plants for larvae such as milkweed, parsley, passion vine, pipevine, and fennel.
Fertilize palms four times per growing season, preferably every other month from March through September. Broadcast the fertilizer under the palm canopy but not up against the trunk. Use a complete fertilizer formulated for palms.
•Lawn maintenance
Keep an eye out for fungus and insects such as chinch bugs and mole crickets in the lawn. If you see signs of damage, call the extension agency or a knowledgeable nursery for treatment recommendations. Make sure that lawns receive at least an inch of water per week. Water on an as-needed basis instead of with a timer set on automatic, if possible. Keep lawnmower blades sharp. Avoid fertilizing when it is hot and humid, as it often encourages brown patch.
Consider replacing some of the lawn with drought-tolerant ground covers such as Asiatic jasmine. For shady areas choose liriope, ferns, aspidistra, selaginella, or low-growing, shade-tolerant shrubs.
•Flowers of the season
Many annuals can be used to add color to a container or the border. Consider ageratum, begonia, blue daze, celosia, cleome, coleus, dusty miller, fanflower, gomphrena, impatiens, melampodium, narrow-leaf zinnia, pentas, purslane, portulaca, and vinca.
Perennials that can be depended upon are angelonia, canna, daylily, gingers, summer phlox, veronica, crinum, and many others.
Shrubs such as abelia, chaste tree, hydrangea, oleander, plumbago, shrimp plant, crape myrtle, althea, and hibiscus add to the show.
Ornamental grasses are beginning to bloom and sway with the breezes.
•Vegetables
Harvest beans, eggplant, melons, okra, pepper, squash, and Southern peas. Plant eggplant, lima beans, okra, Southern peas, peppers and watermelons. Plant new tomato plants late in the month for a fall crop. Choose the “hot set” varieties. Remove and throw away old tomato plants after fruits are harvested.
Solarize the soil to reduce nematode populations in the vegetable garden. Remove old plant debris and till or dig the area thoroughly. Moisten the area and cover with clear plastic film. Cover the edges of the plastic with soil and let it bake in the heat for six weeks.
If you choose not to grow your own vegetables, visit your local Farmer’s Markets. You’ll find abundant supplies of fresh summer vegetables, such as beans, peas, sweet corn, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, tomato, eggplant, and okra.
Marie Harrison is a Master Gardener Volunteer with the University of Florida IFAS Extension in Okaloosa County. Her books, “Gardening in the Coastal South,” “Southern Gardening, an Environmentally Sensitive Approach,” and “Groundcovers for the South” are now available. Visit her at her Web site www.mariesgarden.com to read gardening hints and other information of interest to gardeners.