Guides / What to plant
What to plant in July
Peak growth and peak watering. Cucumbers under glass may need water twice a day, dahlias want a high-potassium feed every fortnight, and the fiddle leaf fig grows more this month than in any other.
These are Northern Hemisphere months. If you garden in the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent month is January.
In the garden
Astilbe
Astilbe x arendsii
How to grow astilbe, Astilbe x arendsii. The perennial for damp shade, why it browns and dies in dry soil, and whether to leave the seed heads through winter.
Carnation
Dianthus caryophyllus
How to grow Dianthus caryophyllus. The clove scent breeding lost and how to get it back, why the stems snap at the joints, and the difference between border and perpetual types.
Chinese Wisteria
Wisteria sinensis
How to grow Wisteria sinensis. The two-stage prune that produces flowers, why a seedling may never bloom in your lifetime, which way the stems twine, and where it is a listed invasive.
Common honeysuckle
Lonicera periclymenum
How to grow honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum. Scent at dusk for the moths, keeping the roots cool and the top in sun, and beating the aphids and mildew.
Common lime
Tilia europaea
How to grow common lime, Tilia europaea. Why it drips sticky honeydew onto everything below, how to pleach it, and the July blossom that scents a whole street.
Delphinium
Delphinium elatum
How to grow delphinium, Delphinium elatum. Staking the spires before they need it, keeping slugs off the spring shoots, and the toxicity that has killed livestock.
Garden Dahlia
Dahlia pinnata
How to grow dahlias, Dahlia pinnata. Starting tubers, staking, deadheading the right buds, protecting shoots from slugs, and whether to lift for winter.
Hedge bindweed
Calystegia sepium
How to identify and control hedge bindweed, Calystegia sepium. Why digging makes it worse, the glyphosate cane trick, and telling it from field bindweed.
Hemlock Water-Dropwort
Oenanthe crocata
How to identify hemlock water-dropwort, Oenanthe crocata. Britain's most poisonous plant, the parsnip-like root tubers, why dogs die of it after floods and how it differs from watercress and celery.
Himalayan balsam
Impatiens glandulifera
How to recognise Impatiens glandulifera, why it takes over riverbanks, pulling it before it seeds, and the legal duties that come with having it on your land.
Italian leather flower
Clematis viticella
How to grow Clematis viticella. The group that resists clematis wilt, why pruning it is the simplest job in the garden, and growing it through a shrub.
Ragwort
Jacobaea vulgaris
How to identify common ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris. The law that applies to it, why it kills horses through cumulative liver damage, safe removal and why dried ragwort in hay is worse than the living plant.
Regal lily
Lilium regale
How to grow Lilium regale. Planting deep for the stem roots, growing it on chalk, controlling lily beetle, and why every lily is lethal to cats.
Star jasmine
Trachelospermum jasminoides
How to grow star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides. Evergreen scent for a sheltered wall, why it bronzes in winter, and whether it is hardy where you live.
Herbs and edibles
Blackcurrant
Ribes nigrum
How to grow blackcurrants, Ribes nigrum. Planting deep to make a stool, pruning a third out each winter, big bud mite and reversion, and the wartime vitamin C story.
Cherry
Prunus avium
How to grow cherries, Prunus avium. Choosing a dwarfing rootstock, netting against birds, why the fruit splits in rain, and pruning only in summer to avoid silver leaf.
Cucumber
Cucumis sativus
How to grow cucumbers, Cucumis sativus. Greenhouse and ridge types, training up strings, why fruit turns bitter, and the male flower rule that only applies to some varieties.
Morello cherry
Prunus cerasus
How to grow morello cherry, Prunus cerasus. The one fruit tree for a north wall, why it needs different pruning from a sweet cherry, and netting against birds.
Oregano
Origanum vulgare
How to grow oregano, Origanum vulgare. Why poor dry soil gives better flavour, cutting back for a second flush, and the difference between oregano and marjoram.
Raspberry
Rubus idaeus
How to grow raspberries, Rubus idaeus. Summer against autumn fruiting and why the pruning differs completely, building the support, and raspberry beetle.
Rosemary
Salvia rosmarinus
How to grow rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus. Drainage above all, pruning without killing it, taking cuttings, and why the botanists moved it into the sages.
Tarragon
Artemisia dracunculus
How to grow tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus. Why French tarragon must be bought as a plant, telling it from Russian, and overwintering it in Britain.
Indoors
Corn plant
Dracaena fragrans
How to grow corn plant, Dracaena fragrans. The brown leaf tips that everyone gets, cutting a bare cane back to force new shoots, and its toxicity to cats.
Fiddle Leaf Fig
Ficus lyrata
How to grow Ficus lyrata. Why it drops leaves when moved, telling root rot brown spots from sunburn ones, and how to make a single stem branch.
String of hearts
Ceropegia woodii
How to care for Ceropegia woodii. Watering a semi-succulent trailer, getting tight leaf spacing rather than bare threads, and propagating from the beads on the stems.