Gardening calendar for July

It's time for fireworks and barbecues, beach trips and vacations -- but it's also time for watering and weeding, deadheading and dividing. Here are some chores to keep your garden growing during the dog days of July.

1. To avoid disease, water the lawn only in the morning, and remember: Less-frequent deep irrigation trumps a daily sprinkle.

2. Harvest green beans daily: The more you pick, the more the plant will produce.

3. For bigger pumpkins, pick off all but one flower from each plant and fertilize once a week.

4. Happy Fourth of July! It's time to fertilize the lawn.

5. When tomatoes, eggplants and peppers set fruit, give them another shot of fertilizer.

6. Place one bunch of eelgrass per square foot of surface water into ponds to inhibit algae growth.

7. Be sure trees planted this spring get a total of 11/2 inches of water per week from rain or supplemental irrigation.

8. For bigger tomatoes remove suckers, those tiny stems that grow between branch crotches.

9. To help prevent powdery mildew, thin crowded plants, water only in the morning and aim water at roots, not leaves.

10. Upload your garden shots and see other readers' photos at newsday.com/ bloomday.

11. Water and turn the compost pile.

12. To make more plants, trim 4- to 6-inch stems from vining houseplants, dip cut ends in rooting hormone and plant in a 50/50 mix of peat andvermiculite.

13. Shear creeping phlox, sweet alyssum and candytuft now, and you'll be rewarded with fuller plants and more flowers next year.

14. Cut chrysanthemums back by a third to prevent them from growing leggy and encourage more blooms. Don't be afraid to remove buds; more will come.

15. Today's the last day to shear hedges this year without risking damage.

16. Deadhead summer-blooming shrubs and perennial plants.

17. Fertilize flowering perennials with a 5-10-5 product now to ramp up blooms.

18. Pick flowers in the morning and they'll last longer in a vase, but clip them late in the day if you plan to dry them.

19. Pick melons when their skin turns yellow and stems feel loose.

20. Harvest squash when fruit is 5-6 inches long or plants will stop producing.

21. Sow seeds of cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, radish and broccoli directly into the garden for a fall crop.

22. Check potted annuals and vegetables twice daily to assess water needs.

23. Deadhead grandiflora roses and hybrid teas.

24. Live near the shore? Spray tree foliage with an anti-dessicant to protect from salt and wind damage.

25. Go on a search-and-destroy mission for tomato hornworms. Pick them off by hand.

26. Stay on top of weeds.

27. To protect against vine borers, mound soil up around the bottom of squash and cucumber stems.

28. You still can plant shrubs and trees.

29. Cut back mangy annuals. You have nothing to lose and you might be able to save them.

30. If mulch is wearing away, add more to beds and borders to suppress weeds and retain soil moisture.

31. Time to divide bearded iris. Remember to replant with crowns exposed.