Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to a podcast for all things green and growing. I'm Ben, your allotment guide and here to help you cultivate your garden and your passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this podcast is for you. Each episode will dig into tips, tricks, and techniques to make your garden and allotment thrive from planting, sewing, and growing. We will share all the tips and add advice. We will also have regular episodes talking about what we have been up to on the a lotment. So sit back, grab a brew and enjoy today's episode. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Gardening with Ben for a brand new episode. We are now in July, when it should be the hottest time of the year. It should be, that is the words. But this year is a very weird year for growing, and I know how it's had a knock on effect for my growing and for doing the jobs around the allotment that I need to do and yet sorted. But in today's episode, we're going to talk about the jobs that need doing in July in the vegetable garden, fruit garden, and the flower garden. And these jobs would be based on a normal July. So think about what you want to do, make a list of the jobs what I'm going to tell you, and yeah, get them completed and keep your garden looking thriving and looking absolutely beautiful. So we're going to start off first talking about the jobs which need doing in July in the vegetable garden. So at this time of year, what you need to do is make sure your water deeply and consistently, and sure your vegetable garden receives deep and consistent watering, especially during hot dry periods. Water early in the morning or late in the evening to minimize evaporation. Use in circerhosas or drip irrigation helps deliver water directly to the roots, which promotes healthy plant growth. Now, I tend to water early in the morning because that's when the slugs are around. Watered at night is when the slugs seem to wake up and they seem to enjoy it more much. To retain moisture and suppress weeds. Now, you cannot apply a thick clut of mulch around your plants to conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and regulate soil temperatures. Organic multures like straw wood, chips or composts also enriches the soil as they decompose. Now, I've got much around all my roboile plants this year, and they seem to be doing really well. It seems to be keeping the moisture in and they seem to be thriving off it. Weed regularly. Now, that's one job that I always have to do. You're always weeding. Keep your garden free of weeds to reduce competition for nutrients and water. Regular weeding also helps prevent pests and diseases from establishing. Removing weeds by hands or using a whore to cut them off at the soil level. Now, a little tip for what I love to use around my plants when it's quite tight is just a kitchen fork. I just scrape a kitchen fork around the plants and it gets the weeds out. Fertilizing plants feature vegetable plants with a balance fertilizer to provide essential nutrients for growth and fruit development. Follow the manufacturers instructions for application rates and methods. Fertilizing in July supports vigorous growth and maximize yields. Now I've started feeding all my plants like once a week now, and my sweet corn seems to be enjoying it. They're loving it, and they're growing lots faster, and hopeful we'll get some delicious sweet corn off our vegetable plants. Support climbing plants. Install steaks, trellises, or other support structures for climbing vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers. Proper support prevents plants from flopping over and keeps the garden organized and healthy. Now you can use sticks as well. If you've got sticks, try and use anything that's free, say of having to pay for it. So have a look around your garden. If you've got steaks and stuff like that, just use them to prop your vegetables up and get them off the ground so that they're not getting eaten by the vegetable by the mice and birds and stuff like that. If you keep them off the ground, especially get your cucumbers in, your tomatoes and stuff like that. Thin seedlings and plants finn out overcrowded seedlings to give the remaining plants enough space to grow. Follow the recommended space in for each vegetable and remove the weak seedlings to promote healthier growth. Now I'm a pain for this. I tend to plant loads and loads of plants and try and fill up as many gaps, but that's not always good. The fighting for the nutrients to just space amount to the correct amount of space and hopefully you will get a good crop and you build it weed easy around them as well. Monitor for pests and diseases. Regular inspects your plants for signs of pests and diseases. Look for chied leaves, discoloration, or unusual growth patterns. Early detection and intervenure are crucial. Use organic treatments as needed, and remove any affective plant material to prevent the spread of problems. Harvest regularly. Begin harvesting vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers being zuchin as the ripen. Regular harveing stain encourages continuous production and prevents overwrite produce from attracting pests. Check yourt garden daily to pick vegetables at their peak. Now this is the best part of your picking all those vegetables. Now, I've been harvesting quite a few things, as I mentioned in my previous podcast, So yeah, keep picking them produce and it will encourage more growth on the plant. Plant successful crops to ensure continuous harvest. Plant successful crops are fast growing vegetables like lettuce, radishes, and beans. Staggering plants every few weeks. We'll keep your garden producing throughout the season. Now that's what you want. You don't want everything growing at the same time. You want to keeping picking your produce right up until the end of the growing season, So try and get some more seating as possible. In tomorrow's episode, we will be talking about all the things that you can plant during July. Check soil moisture and health. Regular check soil moisture levels to ensure plants to get in the right amount of water. Consider testing your soil health to adjust nutrient level as needed optimal plant growth. So that is all the jobs which need doing in the vegetable garden in July. So there's quite a few jobs that I need doing, not too many complicated ones, so hopefully you've got them all. So yeah, next up, we're going to talk about all the jobs which need doing in the fruit garden. Water regularly and efficiently and show your fruit plants receive consistent and adequate water, especially during hot and dry periods again. Water early in the mornings, are late in the evenings as obviously. Fruit plants need a lot of water to keep them growing and to produce lots and lots of big crops for you. Now, the fruit trees will be putting loads and loads and energy into growing all the fruit at this time of year, so keep them well watered and yeah, hopefully get a decent amount of crops. Again. You can mulch around your fruit plants. Apply a thick lighter of mulch around the base of the fruit trees, bushes, vines. Munching helps concerned moisture, suppress us weeds, and regulates the soil temperature. I've got much all around my fruit trees, but just be careful. Don't put them up to the trunks and stuff like that because it can cause rotten of the plants. So just be careful how far up to the plants you put your much. Fertilize your fruit plants. Feed your fruit plants with balanced fertilizer to provide essential nutrients for growth and fruit development. Fertilizing in July supports figuous growth and improves the fruit quality. Now as well, it's not mentioned here, but make sure that you start training all your fruit plants as well. My logan berries are sending out all new canes and stuff ready for next year's fruit to be grown on them, so make sure you fasten them all up and support them all as well. Thin fruit on trees, now, this is something that you do need to do as fruit continues to developed. Thin out excess fruit on trees to prevent overcrowded and to ensure better quality produce. Moving some of the fruit allows remaining ones to grow larger and healthier and prevent branches from breaking under excessive weight. Now I've had this quite a few times where the branches have broken and yeah snapped off due to the heaviness of the fruit on them. Prune and train vines and bushes. Prune great vinins and other fruit bearing vines to remove excess growth and improve air circulation. Training the vines on trellists or support structures to keep them healthy and productive. For berry bushes, remove any dead or damaged canes to ensure new growth. Support heavy laden fruit branches. Use steaks or props to support branches that are heavy laden with fruit. This helps prevent from breaking kid under the weight and ensures the fruit has enough space for air circulation to ripe and properly. Now my loco berries have been weighed so heavy that they have broken some of the branches, so I've lost some of the fruit on them. So just make sure you keep them supported and following wires and stuff like that you can put like fruit wise up to trade them along as well. Weed around fruit plants keep the area of your fruit trees, bushes and vines free of weeds. Weeds compete with fruit plants for nutrients and water. Regular weeding helps maintain a healthy, productive fruit garden, so yeah, always weeding to be done, usually or getting sprays such as gnim oil or essential insectial soap to protect your fruit plants from common pests. Apply these sprays according to the manufacturer's instructures, focusing on the other side of the leaves and areas where pests are likely to hide. Net fruit trees and bushes. Now I've been netted by blueberries because things have been eating them. Protect your ripening fruit for birds and other animals by covering trees and bushes with nettings to ensure the netting is securely fastened and check regulated to make sure that animals are trapped in the netting. I should have netted on my gooseberries. I've lost all my gooseberries to the blackbird. So yeah, that's all the jobs which need doing in the fruit garden during July. Now jobs that need doing in the flower garden for July. Again, water regularly and deep plate to make sure that you're keeping your flowers nice and healthy and watered well. And again much flower beds to keep the soil temperature at a decent rate and it keeps the moisture as suppress as wheats. Dead Head this is one thing that you need to do on a daily basis. Just do it at a certain time every single night. Just go around, like at like six o'clock at night. Just deadhead eddy old flowers off the plant. Because the more you're deadhead, the more the plant willflower. And if you don't deadhead, that's when they go to seed and it thinks it's dying off and you possibly won't get any more flowers on the plant. So keep wearing around dead heading and you will encourage more growth and flowers on the plant, especially roses and sweet peas as well. Support tall flowers. Install steaks trellises or other support structures for tall or climbing plants like delphiniums pi andies climators. Proper support prevents plants from flopping over and keeps your guarden looking tidy and organized. Same as for sun flowers, keep them tied up, keep them fastened, and hopefully you will get some decent sized sunflowers, and make sure you give them plenty of water at this time of year. Are water by some flowers every single day, as they absolutely love it and it will make them growth all as well. And give them some food once a week as well. Divide and transplant perennials. If you have overgrown perennials, July is a good time to divide and transplant them. Dig up the plants, separate the roots, and replant the divisions in other areas of your garden. This rejuvenates the plants and helps fill in gaps in your flower beds. Prune summer flowers and shrubs. After summer flowers and shrubs have finished blooming, prune them to shape and remove any dead or damaged branches. Pruning encourages healthy growth and ensures a good display of blooms next year. Plant late summer and fall blooming flowers. Continue planting late summer flower and fall blooming flowers or autumn in our case, to add color and interest your garden as the season progressors. Ensure the soil is well prepared, and plant a recommended debt as basic water fully after planting to help them establish. So there's quite a few jobs which need doing in the fruit garden, in the flower garden, and in the vegetable garden during the month of July. I hope you found all these tips useful and helpful. I certainly will be going around and doing these jobs myself in the garden as I'm trying to make it the best it's looked in years, and at the moment it's looking absolutely fantastic. I wouldn't say it's always the best, as I don't always get much time to do stuff down there, but we do try and get a lot of stuff done whereas possible. So I hope we've enjoyed this episode. Make sure that you do leave a comment, leave a like on it, and if you're not following me, do give me a follow and tick the belt so that you get notified when the next podcast comes up. And if you've got Instagram or anything like that, feel free to share it to other people to listen to as well, and make sure that you are following me on all my social media. So until next time, remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone, thank you for joining me on this episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you have found some useful tips and instegiration for your own gardening and a lotment journey. If you have enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love for you to leave a review and share the podcast. But fellow gardening confusiasts, your support helps us grow as community and continue bringing you great content. You can also follow us on social media on every platform, or Gardening with Ben for daily gardening tips and of days, happy gardening. And until next time, remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.