VEGETABLES AND HERBS
• Remove and compost any remaining disease-free cool-season crops.
• Keep the garden evenly watered; avoid overwatering. Water vegetables with drip irrigation, soaker hoses or by hand. To prevent disease, avoid overhead watering. It’s best to water at the base of each plant.
• Mulch with disease-free grass clippings to keep the bed moist, weed-free and prevent splashing on foliage. Water on foliage can promote disease.
• Harvest ripe vegetables. Cucumbers will stop growing fruit until the ripe ones are removed. Bush green beans have a shorter season and can be harvested all at once. Pole beans ripen over an extended period.
• Harvest snap beans 50-80 days after planting, depending on variety and weather conditions. Pick the pods when they are 3 to 5 inches long and while the seeds are small and tender. Large bumps along the pods indicate seeds that are too mature.
• Continue to apply mulch to vegetable beds to keep the soil cool and to retain moisture. It’s also much easier to weed a mulched garden.
• By mid-July, you can start sowing fall-season crops such as lettuce, beets, Swiss chard and spinach.
• Continue planting annual herbs such as basil and cilantro; both mature in under 60 days.
LAWNS
• Wait to fertilize cool-season grasses until late summer.
• More: ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1540.html
• Apply ½ to 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet to for improved growth and color. ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07224.html
• Water during the night or early in the morning, by 9 a.m., to reduce evaporation loss if watering is needed.
• Large, irregular patches quickly turn straw color and appear dead.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02901.html
PERENNIALS
• Dig and divide iris rhizomes. Discard any diseased, woody or insect-infested sections. Cut the sections and expose them to the air for several hours before replanting.
• Irrigate perennial beds in the morning after dew has dried; avoid overhead irrigation.
• Deadhead spent flowers and take the opportunity to check plant health. Enjoy some quiet time outdoors and cut some unspent flowers for fresh arrangements.
PEST AND DISEASE WATCH
• Leaves of pin oak, maple and roses that turn yellow, but have green leaf veins, are a symptom of Carefully applied iron sprays or chelated iron placed in holes around the drip zone can help. ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2115.html
• Look for leaf damage to vegetables and flowers. Slugs hide during the day, so look for their slime trails for proof they’ve made a meal of your leaves. Trap slugs in wet rolled newspapers or paper towel rolls left out overnight. ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1436.html
• that can affect 300 species of plants including aster, marigold, zinnia, petunia, lettuce, carrots, beets and onions. Plants show yellowed, bronzed and twisted new shoots or flower growth and complete removal of the plant is necessary. If you suspect this condition, confirm the diagnosis with a garden expert or Colorado Master Gardener. ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1452.html
