Upper Midwest July Gardening Tips

Gardening can be a rewarding hobby that not only provides fresh produce and beautiful blooms, but also helps reduce stress and promotes physical activity. If you live in the upper midwest region of the United States, you may find gardening to be a bit challenging due to the cooler climate and shorter growing season. However, with some helpful tips and tricks, you can still have a thriving garden in July. Here are some suggestions:

Choose Heat-Tolerant Plants

July is typically a hot month in the upper midwest, so it's important to choose plants that can handle the heat. Some vegetables that do well in hot weather include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers. For flowers, consider planting zinnias, marigolds, and petunias.

Tomatoes in a garden

Water Your Garden Regularly

During hot and dry weather, it's important to water your garden regularly to prevent wilting and dehydration. Water deeply and thoroughly in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler. Avoid watering during the middle of the day when evaporation rates are high.

Watering plants

Control Weeds

Weeds can quickly take over a garden and steal nutrients from your plants. To control weeds, use mulch around your plants to suppress weed growth. Hand-pull any weeds that do manage to sprout up, and use a hoe to remove them before they have a chance to set seed.

Weeding

Harvest Your Vegetables

In July, many vegetables will be ready for harvest. Check your plants daily for ripe produce, and pick them as soon as they are ready. This will help encourage continued production throughout the growing season.

Harvesting vegetables

Protect Your Plants from Pests

Unfortunately, pests can be a problem in any garden. To protect your plants from pests, consider using natural pest control methods such as hand-picking insects or using companion planting to repel pests. You can also try using insecticidal soaps or neem oil if necessary.

Pest control in garden

Plan Ahead for Fall Planting

While July is still peak gardening season, it's also important to start planning ahead for fall planting. Start seeds for cool-season crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts indoors now so that they will be ready to transplant into the garden in late summer or early fall.

Fall vegetable garden

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