July has arrived and as we embrace the chill of winter, it’s important not to be deterred by the cooler weather.
July is the perfect month to get your garden into shape.
It’s a great time to plant a variety of fruit and vegetables, and to give your garden the care it needs to flourish.
So, grab your gloves and let’s dig into some practical gardening tips for this winter month:
Plant Fruit and Veggies
In July, it is a great time to plant Kale, Coriander, Leeks, Onions, Radishes, Lettuce, Potatoes, Silver beet, Salad Greens, Carrots, Spring Onion, and Parsley.
It’s also the perfect time to plant fruits like Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Apples, and Rhubarb.
Improve your soil, by mixing one-part Richgro Black Marvel Garden Compost with three parts existing soil and mix in well ensuring that the soil is well blended.
After preparing the soil, go ahead and plant your chosen fruits and vegetables.
Finish by applying a layer of Richgro Natural Pinebark Mulch and give your new plants a generous watering.
Plant Bare Rooted Plants
Winter presents an excellent opportunity for planting, offering ample time for plants to settle in before the summer heat arrives.
It’s a particularly thrilling time for gardeners as bare-rooted plants become available, including a wide variety of deciduous species such as fruit trees, roses, and ornamental plants.
When selecting a bare-rooted plant, it’s crucial to check for any visible damage and seek out a well-formed branch structure. If the plant is grafted, be sure to remove any shoots coming from the base, as these are from the rootstock. It’s also important to keep the roots moist until they are planted and remove any unhealthy or damaged roots.
When planting, your hole should be wide but shallow, allowing you to plant the tree at the same depth it was previously grown. Remember to always ensure that the graft or bud of your tree is positioned about 10 centimetres above the soil.
Arrange the roots naturally, using a mound of soil at the base if necessary for support.
Backfill the hole, gently shaking the tree to settle the soil and eliminate air pockets, and water thoroughly.
Hold off on fertilising until growth resumes in the spring.
Balance the tree by pruning the branches, cutting them back to around 30 centimetres from the trunk and just above a bud.
Encourage a healthy branching pattern by removing the central leader.If the tree is unstable, secure it with a stake until it’s firmly rooted and able to stand on its own.
Control Weeds
July is the ideal time to apply mulch to your garden beds and to also stay vigilant against weeds in your garden.
Start by hand-pulling any weeds that have intertwined with your other plants, ensuring their complete removal.
For larger areas overrun by weeds, use Richgro Beat-A-Weed, a safe a fast acting natural weedkiller that swiftly knocks them down.
Leaf Curl
Leaf Curl is a fungal disease that commonly affects peaches, nectarines, almonds, and other stone fruits. It can affect both fruiting and ornamental varieties.
The symptoms are noticed in spring and summer, when the new leaves appear with raised lumpy light green and red patches and are curled up.
Infected leaves ultimately turn brown, shrivel, and drop from the tree. Fruits may also fail to develop and can be discoloured.
Once you see the symptoms, it is too late to spray.
Leaf Curl is a disease that needs to be prevented, as once leaves are affected, they cannot be cured.
Therefore, Leaf Curl disease spores need to be killed during winter before they have the chance to infect new leaves in spring. Trees should be sprayed from mid to late winter from bud swell, until the leaves emerge.
Spray with copper sprays such as copper oxychloride during this period.
This is a preventative spray, so the swelling buds need to be covered with the copper spray. Once the buds have burst open, it is too late to spray.