Garden To-Do / July
July is the coldest month of the year on the St Francis coast, and the shortest. Growth slows to almost nothing, which means less watering, less mowing and more time for the jobs that are easier when the garden is dormant: pruning, planning and soil care. The days are short, but the light has a quality all its own, and the aloes and Cape May bushes are putting on a show.
The coolest month, with daytime highs around 19 to 20°C and overnight lows that can dip to 8 or 9°C on clear, still nights. Frost is rare this close to the coast, but not impossible on a windless inland morning. Growth is at its slowest, and the garden needs very little from you.
Winter fronts are a regular feature: warm, dry berg winds from the north-west ahead of the front, then strong south-westerlies and sometimes westerlies as it pushes through. Between the fronts, days can be beautifully still and mild. Check stakes and ties before each front, and after a berg wind, check that pots and new plantings have not dried out, those hot, dry winds can do more damage than a week of cold.
About 50 mm on average, arriving in a few wet frontal spells rather than steadily. Established beds need little extra water this month. If anything, the risk is waterlogging in heavy clay pots or low-lying spots, so make sure drainage is clear.
This is the month for pruning deciduous fruit trees while they are fully dormant. Remove crossing branches, open up the centre, and shape for the coming season. Stake young trees firmly ahead of the fronts and check ties on everything.
Prune roses now, hard back to an outward-facing bud, clean up fallen leaves around the base, and spray with a lime-sulphur wash for a clean start in spring. Continue planting hardy indigenous shrubs and groundcovers; they will root quietly through winter and be ready to grow when spring arrives. Cut back any frost-damaged growth on subtropical plants, but wait until you are sure the last cold snap is past.
Winter annuals like pansies, violas, poppies and snapdragons should be in full flower now. Give them a light feed on a mild day to keep the display strong. If gaps have appeared, fill them with fresh punnets from the nursery.
Keep sowing cool-season crops in succession: peas, broad beans, spinach, kale, lettuce, radishes and spring onions. Protect young seedlings from cold winds with a simple cloche or windbreak. Harvest leafy crops regularly and keep beds mulched to hold warmth in the soil. Parsley, coriander and chives are all happy in the winter garden here.
Sharpen secateurs and loppers before the pruning season. Clean out gutters and drains ahead of the wet fronts. Top up mulch everywhere, clear weeds while they are small and the beds are visible, and work compost into any tired or bare beds so the soil is rich and ready for spring planting in September. The aloes are flowering now, so enjoy the sunbird show.
Indigenous plant of the month
Right now, in the middle of winter, the Cape May is one of the best-performing shrubs on this coast. It forms a neat, upright, finely branched bush with soft, needle-like leaves that carry a strong citrus scent when brushed, a family trait it shares with the buchus. From May right through to November, the bush covers itself in a blizzard of tiny white flowers, giving it the common name confetti bush. On a still winter morning, the scent carries across the garden.
It is a fynbos plant through and through, naturally adapted to poor, well-drained, sandy and acid soils, wind, salt air and drought once established, which makes it tailor-made for gardens here. Use it as a hedge, a screening plant, a filler in a mixed shrubbery, or even in a large container. It needs very little attention once it has settled in: a light trim after flowering keeps it compact, and it rarely needs feeding or fussing. It reaches about 1.2 m and copes with strong coastal winds, so it works well in exposed positions where fussier shrubs would struggle.
See you at the nursery,
Clint
The Farmyard Nursery
Need a hand getting started? WhatsApp us or visit the nursery, and we will point you to the right plants for the season.
