Garden Tasks to Discontinue after July 4

July 4th is Independence Day not only nationally, but for gardeners as well. It’s the date at which many tasks can and should end for the season. Some gardening chores that are common before July 4th are best halted after this highpoint of summer, freeing up our time for other things.
Tasks that should end around July 4th:
• Trees, shrubs and perennial flowers can be fertilized during the first half of the growing season, but their fertilizing should soon stop. They’ll have the rest of summer to gradually slow down, allowing them to “harden off” by fall, so they enter winter tough and ready for the elements. If trees and shrubs are fertilized too late in the season, new growth can be stimulated that won’t have enough time to harden off, making it more vulnerable to winter damage.
• Extensive pruning is best halted. Light trimming and shaping can continue, but heavy pruning stimulates new, abundant lush growth that might not have enough time to toughen up before winter.
• Asparagus harvest is completed now, and spears are left to grow, expand and produce their fern-like tops. Asparagus plants winter best if tops are left intact until next spring, when they can be cut off before the new crop emerges.
• Rhubarb harvest is also best completed in early July. Letting the leaves and stalks grow naturally for the rest of the season gives rhubarb the chance to replenish itself after we’ve plucked it’s leaves for the past months. Harvesting rhubarb after July 4 doesn’t mean it will die, and a few spears picked later for a rhubarb pie does little harm, but if heavy harvest continues all summer, it can weaken the plant. If blight, rot organisms or virus attack, or it the winter is severe, the rhubarb plant might not be as strong to fight adversity.
• Digging and dividing perennials takes a mid-summer rest. The season is past for types best divided in spring, and fall-divided types should wait, such as iris in August and peonies in September.
Tasks to continue:
• Annual flowers like geraniums and other container plants bloom stronger with continued fertilizing.
• Garden center potted trees, shrubs and perennials can be planted all summer.
• Maintain a high mowing height of three inches for healthiest lawn growth.
• Deadhead roses, perennials and annuals to encourage continued bloom.
• Eradicate as many weeds as possible to prevent them from going to seed. A single weed can produce tens of thousands of seeds, dispersing them over a wide area, multiplying the weeding chore for years to come, as many seeds remain viable in soil for decades.
• Take long breaks to enjoy landscapes, flower beds and vegetable gardens.

Happy Gardening!