It can be a challenge to keep gardens growing well as summer heats up, so Utah State University Extension’s Gardener’s Almanac provides a checklist of tasks to help your garden, grass and plants grow well in July.

Visit the almanac at https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/monthly-tips.

July Checklist

• Start enjoying the tomato harvest.
• Side dress (fertilize) potatoes in the garden with nitrogen in early July.
• Harvest summer squash and zucchini when they are still small and tender.
• Deep water established trees and shrubs about once per month during the heat of summer.
• Deadhead (cut off) spent blossoms of perennial and annual flowers.
• Divide crowded iris or daylilies once they have finished blooming.
• Visit alpine areas for wildflower displays.
• Remove water sprouts (vertical shoots in the canopy) of fruit trees to discourage regrowth and to reduce shading.
• Renovate perennial strawberry beds by tearing out old crowns (mother plants) and applying fertilizer to stimulate new runners.
• Turfgrass only needs 1½ to 2 inches of irrigation per week.

Pests and Problems

• If tomatoes are not producing, it could be due to hot weather (95 degrees and above), which causes flower abortion.
• Blossom end rot (black sunken areas on the end of tomatoes) is common and is caused by uneven watering.
• Check under leaves of pumpkins, melons and squash plants for squash bugs.
• Treat corn for corn earworm.
• Spider mites prefer dry, hot weather and affect many plants. Treat for spider mites by using “softer” solutions such as spraying them with a hard stream of water or by using an insecticidal soap. Spider mites can be identified by shaking leaves over a white piece of paper. If the small specs move, you have mites.
• Control codling moth in apples and pears to reduce wormy fruit. For specific timing, see our Utah Pests Advisories.
• Historically, control of the greater peach tree borer in peaches, nectarines and apricots occurs the first of July. However, for specific timing, visit https://pestadvisories.usu.edu.
• Watch for symptoms of turfgrass diseases.
• Monitor for damaging turfgrass insects.