How to Water Tomatoes and Other July Gardening Tips

By Guest Authors Charlie Nardozzi, Horticulturist and Leonard Perry, University of Vermont Extension Horticulturist

How to water tomatoes, control slugs, and rejuvenate spring annuals are some of the gardening activities for this month.

Watch for Blossom End Rot on tomatoes

Dark leathery spots on the blossom end of tomatoes are likely to be a condition called “blossom end rot“, caused by uneven watering. Mulch will help moderate the fluctuating moisture levels that nature provides, and it’s not too late to spread some around your plants. Mulch helps the soil from drying quickly after wet weather—another fluctuation that may lead to this disease in tomatoes as well as peppers, squash, and even watermelon.  Also, use a soil test to make sure that the pH and calcium levels of your soil are correct.

How to deter snails and slugs

Coffee grounds, diatomaceous earth, iron phosphate bait (use caution or not at all if pets roam the area), crushed egg shells, and even raw sheep’s wool can deter slugs and snails. Spread any of these materials in a ring around individual plants. Wrap pots with copper tape to keep slugs from crawling up. One of the more common controls is simply to place saucers of beer among your plants, which attract the slugs and in which they drown. Or simply place boards in your garden, under which they’ll hide by day and can be found and gathered.

Keep an eye on annuals

With the heat of summer, pansies, lobelia, petunias, and some other cool-season annuals can go into a slump. To rejuvenate them, cut back the stems by one half and apply liquid organic fertilizer when you water them. This will help to bring them back and to start blooming again for late summer and fall.  Many of the newer cultivars (cultivated varieties) of petunias, however, keep on blooming.  Plus, they are “self-cleaning”, meaning the old flowers just wither and drop off, so you won’t need to cut them back as is common with older cultivars.

Many of the newer selections of annuals have been bred to require highly fertile soil, so make sure you side dress annuals with plenty of compost.  If they stop blooming or have fewer blooms, this may be the reason. If using an organic solution such as liquid seaweed or compost tea, you may need to fertilize with every watering.

Weed frequently

Take just one-half hour every day to inspect the garden and pull weeds. Weeds really do sprout overnight and by next week they’ll be towering over your tomatoes and annual flowers.  A visit to the garden before work, or as soon as you get home, can keep the weeds in check.

Remove runners from strawberries

Strawberry plants are actively growing in July and new runners are spreading everywhere. Remove runners to keep your strawberry plants spaced according to the method you’re using. This will help plants put their energy into producing next year’s fruit instead of new runners. Left alone, a bed will turn into a mass of foliage and few berries. Usually ever bearers are planted in hills, with runners removed.  June-bearing cultivars are usually planted in rows, with runners kept within the beds and removed from the paths.

Protect Strawberries and Blueberries

Birds love blueberries as much as we do, so protect the fruit with netting.  Use stakes to suspend the netting over the shrub so birds won’t reach the berries. Many times birds get caught in the netting when they go after the berries, so secure the netting to the ground to prevent them from sneaking in. Sometimes netting can be difficult for birds to see and they’ll crash into it, so tie Mylar flash tape to the netting to make it more visible to birds. Get your cover in place before the berries start to ripen.

This article originally appeared on the University of Vermont’s Extension Service.