July, north of the equator

July is a month of picking and pouring. Very little needs planting and everything needs water, and the crops that were sown in spring all arrive at once. The gardeners who eat well in October are the ones who find time to sow again in the middle of it, while the beans are still coming in and nobody feels like starting anything new.

In the garden

Sow for autumn. Lettuce, rocket, radish, spring onions, chard, beetroot and dwarf French beans all go in now for a crop in September and October, and this is the last useful month for carrots. Water the drill before sowing rather than the surface afterwards, because July soil dries within hours and a seed that germinates and then dries out is a seed wasted twice.

Harvest constantly. Courgettes double in size in two days, beans stop producing the moment a pod is left to swell, and a tomato picked slightly early ripens perfectly on a windowsill. Pick sweet peas and deadhead the annuals every few days, which is the difference between six weeks of flowers and twelve.

Water where it matters. Newly planted trees and shrubs, anything in a container, and the crops that are swelling fruit are the priorities. An established lawn can be left to go brown and will come back within a fortnight of the first proper rain. Prune the summer flowering jasmine after it finishes, and take softwood cuttings of pelargonium, salvia and hydrangea.

In the house

Water often and check the containers outside twice on hot days. A plant in a terracotta pot in full sun can empty itself between breakfast and supper. Move anything that is scorching into shade rather than trying to water it out of the problem, because scorch is a light injury and no amount of water repairs it.

Keep feeding, but always into moist compost. Watch for red spider mite, which arrives in hot dry indoor air and shows first as a fine stippling on the leaves and then as webbing at the joints. Raise the humidity and check the undersides weekly.

Take cuttings while the growth is soft. Anything rooted this month will be a decent plant by the time the light goes in November.

What not to do yet

Do not repot. Do not start reducing the watering because the shops have autumn in the window, because the plants are still in full growth and will be for another six weeks. And do not leave the watering of a container garden to chance in August: work out now who is doing it while you are away.