2010 Garden Journal - July
July 4 - my peonies are showing signs of blackspot and mildew again this year. That makes for21 years in a row that I can recall such high amounts of damage on the peonies. It could be because both years were relatively wet during June. It does not totally seem to be related to air circulation as even some peonies in the open areas were affected. This year I sprayed the peonies with sulphur and that seems to stop the damage. Next year I need to start a bit earlier as a preventative measure.
July 1 - first spotting of Japanese Beetles -- did they come for the holiday?
July 7 - The Neon Flash Spirea are in full bloom and look spectacular right now lining the pathway from the Kitchen Patio Garden to the lawn.
Also in full bloom is my Polish Spirit clematis by the Bedroom Patio garden which seems much earlier than I remember in past years. The good news is that since it is blooming so early the Japanese Beetles are not out in full force yet so have largely left the blooms alone so far.
July 19 - The Annabelle Hydrangea look spectacular right now. My PeeGee Hydrangea by the Kitchen Patio is also full of white blooms as are most of the other paniculata hydrangeas in the yard. Surprisingly the Rose of Sharon are also blooming and this too seems early.
July 12-16 - Pruned back Firelight, Flaming Mound and Magic Carpet Spirea in front beds along with Salvia and some daylilies.
July 17 - A strip of heavy rain crossed right over St. George dumping more than 55mm of rain in a few short hours.
July 18 - I removed some fall webworm nests from the crab apples today. More appeared as June progressed in the Hawthorn trees and lilacs.
July 24 - we are now eating almost exclusively from the garden for vegetables. Today we harvested tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, beets, a red and yellow onion, garlic, lettuce and carrots and our first potatoes!
July 26-30 - pruned remaining spirea in back beds along with Alchemilla Mollis, roses and daylilies. Polish Spirit clematis has now largely finished blooming so I cut is severely to the ground to eliminate the browning foliage and reduce foliage that the Japanese Beetles like to attack.
July 28 - fertilized the lawn just before a one inch rain! Put down 9 bags.
While we are getting a little tired of zucchini, we are enjoying the remaining produce in the garden. Luckily we have discovered we like zucchini loaf so I now have several in the freezer!
With an average maximum temperature of 28.7C it was a warm July (more than 2 degrees warmer than normal average maximum of 26.3C). We experienced 7 days with temperatures above 30C (amazingly most at the beginning of July) with a high reached of 34.5C on July 7.
Luckily we once again received plenty of precipitation so the gardens did nothing but thrive. We received a total of 118.9mm of rain in July (including the 55+mm on July 17) compared to a expected normal rainfall in July of 86.5mm.
