Enjoy fruits of your labor

July is an important month for savoring the rewards of everything it takes to create a beautiful home landscape. Winter is the season for daydreaming and planning, while spring brings the chance to turn those plans into action. It's often the heart of summer-those fleeting but memorable months-when the hard work of planning, installing, and maintaining a garden is rewarded with new sources of beauty. Try to find time each day to enjoy the many pleasures these changes bring.

Trees and shrubs

Fertilize roses for the third and final time at the end of the month with a liquid 20-20-20 fertilizer. Do not fertilize after Aug. 1.

Continue to deadhead roses by cutting flowers back to the first set of five leaves. Self-cleaning shrub roses need only light pruning to maintain their appearance.

Monitor roses closely for black spot. Remove any leaves that show darkened circles with fuzzy margins on either topside or underside of leaves; yellow foliage with dark spots; and any leaves that have already dropped from the plant. Begin a spray program with approved fungicides immediately. Always choose disease-resistant roses in the future.

Prune out all ground-level sucker growth from crab apple or apple trees by cutting out growth below soil level.

If necessary, boxwood and yews can be lightly pruned to maintain a formal character. Avoid over pruning, especially in very sunny, hot weather.

Flowers

Continue to deadhead annuals and perennials to encourage more flowering. When deadheading annual geraniums, remove entire stem with fading flowers.

To promote a second, late-summer show of early blooming perennials, shear perennial geranium and catmint, and cut back or remove flower spikes from salvia and delphiniums.

Prune out longest stems of cascading petunias weekly to prevent plants from becoming scraggly.

Remove spent flowers or seed heads of daylilies immediately to conserve plant energy.

Annuals in containers and hanging baskets may require daily watering during hot or windy weather. Continue to fertilize container plants with half-strength balanced liquid fertilizer, but avoid applying in the heat of the day or during long hot dry spells. Always water plants before fertilizing.

Continue to pinch off new growth of chrysanthemums, asters and late-blooming tall sedum until the middle of the month.

Monitor foliage of densely planted annuals and perennials that might show signs of fungal disease stemming from cool, damp weather earlier this season.

Make note of empty spots in borders that might benefit from planting summer-flowering bulbs next year.

Vegetables and herbs

Monitor tomatoes during hot weather. Tomatoes appreciate an even supply of moisture rather than a heavy soaking and then a drought. Straw mulch is helpful in these beds.

Monitor vegetables for symptoms of fungus or blight: Soft, darkened areas, yellow and dropping leaves, sunken dark spots on otherwise green foliage.

Monitor all plants for insects. The return of sunny, hot weather will bring a bumper crop. Hand-remove large insects such as tomato hornworms and other caterpillars.

Caterpillars on fennel, dill and carrots might likely be those of swallowtail butterflies, which lay their eggs on these favorite host plants. Consider planting a special crop just for them next year.

Harvest onions and garlic as they are ready, and begin the drying process.

Seeds for fall crops may be sown toward the end of the month. These include beans, broccoli, spinach, cool-season lettuce crops and cabbage.

Espaliered fruit trees should be pruned for the second time once their spring flush of growth is over. The first pruning is done in late winter when plants are dormant.

Continue to harvest herbs to use fresh, dry in a microwave, or freeze in small batches in ice cube trays.

Pinch off developing flowers to retain essential oils and flavor in plant foliage.

Lawn care

Do not fertilize lawn in hot weather. The best time to fertilize is fall.

During drought or times of water conservation, turf will go dormant, but the grass will remain alive with only one inch of water.

Mow grass at a high level of 2 to 3 inches in hot summer. Grass clippings can be left on the lawns and gently raked to avoid clumping.

If grubs were a serious problem in the past (more than 10 to 12 in a square foot), treat affected areas with a product containing imidacloprid. The best time to apply is late June to early July, which is four to six weeks before emergence. Follow label instructions and water in well. It's often too late to treat grubs when damage appears, usually in late summer.

Denise Corkery is a horticultural writer at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.