Maintenance in July

What should we be doing in July?

I don't know about anyone else, but here in my garden - it is water, water, water - to make sure nothing dies of heat exhuastion! And feed of course. From Pasadena, Calif.

Well the last post was a year ago. Yes WATER but there is more. To be the most effecient, you really need to mulch your garden or yard. A nice thick mulch of between 2" and 3" will give you the best results. Mulch does three things, perhaps more. But number one is you will save water, lots of water. The sun can not bake the soil and dry it out if there is a nice thick mulch. Also you will dramaticly reduce your weed problems.
A good thick mulch will keep most weeds from germinating. 'Most' weeds need to reach light soon after gerninating, if there is no light, they die, or don't germinate. There are excetions and you might have a few weeds, but those will be easy to pull, the roots will be very week.
Your yard will have a 'finished' look. It will look 'fresh' like someone cares. As the mulch breaks down it will ad ORGAINC MATERIAL to the soil. This will happen over months or years depending on what type of mulch you use. Soft things like lawn clippings and leaves will break down fast, wood chips and coarser bark materials will take longer, perhaps a couple of years.
The other thing you should keep in mind when you water. Try to water when it is cool, in the evening or mornings, to help avoid evaporation. Also don't water when it is breezy, it will blow away. Check your spinklers to see they are working properly, spraying where you want the water to go. Make sure there are no broken pipes or couplings that might have become un-glued. That can waste a lot of water.
Water for longer periods of time, less often, so the water soaks in deeper. Water near the surface is the first to evaporate. Deep watering encourages deeper roots, and in the long run uses less water.
Check your system
Mulch Mulch Mulch
Water longer, and less often

Do you think that organic compost by itself is a good mulch?

Yes, I think that is fine. If you make your own compost that is great. MOST 'mulches' are 'organic' but there are others, rock, ground up tires, things like that. Even just a sheet of plastic could be cosidered 'mulch' I guess, it covers the soil, inhibits weeds and will help to conserve water, but it is not really attracitve, and not orgainc. Most of the mulches you find in a garden center, derived from trees some how could be considered 'orgainc' in my opinion. There are pretty strict rules now, as far as labeling. If the producer wants to have the word 'organic' on his product they have to go through a process to have it 'certified orgainc'. This would mean there are no chemicals of any kind in those mulches. Some mulches are stained or colored, so they probably would not qualify. Some products might be derived from used wood, and might be difficult to certify also, there could be paint or stain somewhere. But in general most mulches would be at least 80 to 95% orgainc, but it does not take much to bump it off of the chart. For a compost, I really don't think it would have much effect on the plants, or anything else. There could be some who would dissagree with me on this, but in general most any mulch is a good thing. The rock and rubber do not decompose, so in theory you should not have to replace those much, except for what gets ground into the soil. The wood and bark products will graually decompose and ad orgainc material to the soil, which is a good thing. Smaller pieces decompose faster, large ones last longer.

Here in South Dakota, July usually means drought. I rarely water my garden or flowers in the ground. My plants have adapted to dry and hot and if I water them too much they stress. The vegetable garden seems to handle this fine. Even cucmubers are big and crisp with minimal watering. Pots and containers are drowned with water but the plants in the ground fight for their moisture and seem to thrive.