Garden Calendar for July

July, in the Duc de Berry's medieval prayer book, the Book of Hours. The Harvest: the sheep are being shorn and the hay is being reaped. The chateau behind them is that which formerly stood on the Clain at Poitiers.

For July:

Control hollyhock rust by sanitation, picking affected leaves. 
Early morning is the best time to water vegetable and flower gardens to reduce evaporation. Water deeply and infrequently. 
Hanging baskets of flowers or vegetable plantings need careful attention to watering and feeding during extended periods of hot weather. 
Watch for cutworm damage in garden. (In July, climbing cutworms become a problem and large portions of foliage will begin to disappear on established plants.) Use barriers, remove by hand, use beneficial nematodes when soil temperature is above 55°F, or spray with Bt according to label directions. 
Midsummer plantings of beets, bush beans, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, kale, and peas will provide fall and winter crops. 
Place traps to catch adult apple maggot flies. You can use pheromone traps to monitor presence of pests. 
Cover blueberry bushes with netting to keep birds from eating all the crop. 
Stake tomatoes, watch for blight (prune for air circulation, pick off affected leaves,). 
First planting of Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, rutabagas on Oregon coast. 
Monitor camellias, holly, maple trees for scale insects. 
Monitor rhododendrons for root weevil adults. Look for fresh evidence of feeding (notching). Try sticky trap products on plant trunks to trap adult weevils or apply beneficial nematodes for reduction of larval stage. 
Check leafy vegetables for caterpillars. Control with Bacillus thuringiensis . 
Mound soil up around base of potatoes, gather and eat a few "new" potatoes from each hill. 

Weed and fertilize rhubarb and asparagus beds, water deeply to develop crowns for next year. A mulch of compost or rotted cow manure works well. 
Mulch to conserve soil moisture with paper, plastic, sawdust, etc. 
Watch for signs of spider mites on arborvitae hedges (dusty-looking foliage, loss of color, presence of tiny mites). Wash infested areas with water . 
Dig spring bulbs when tops have died down; divide and store or replant. 
If a green lawn is desired, make sure lawn areas are receiving adequate water. Deep watering less often is more effective than frequent shallow watering. 
Stake tall-growing flowering plants such as delphinium, hollyhocks, and lupine. 
Aerate lawns for more effective water and fertilizer usage.