Things to do in the JULY garden

• Between SESSIONS IN THE HAMMOCK scuffle away a few weeds, and clean some plants of dead flowers. Cut-and-hold flower scissors simplify deadheading. Snip with one hand; hold a pail to receive the faded flowers in the other.

  Keep roses, and annual and perennial flowers cleaned of faded bloom. This maintains a fresh look in the ornamental garden and helps to prevent disease.

  Cut faded sweet pea flowers off the vines to prevent seed formation and a halt to flowering.

• MULCH AROUND MOISTURE-HUNGRY PLANTS such as summer phlox, lupin and delphinum using compost or composted manure mixed with damp peat. Water the area thoroughly first.

• SEED flowering kale and cabbage, winter pansies, and spring-blooming biennials such as English and Siberian wallflowers, sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis) and forget-me-not for spring bloom.

  For fresh fall and winter vegetables sow carrots, beets, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, edible or garland chrysanthemum (chop suey greens), and oriental radishes.

• LIFT AND DIVIDE overgrown or bare-centred bearded iris clumps after flowering has finished.

• SUMMER PRUNE FRUIT TREES, shortening the new growth to help keep the trees compact.

• HARVEST beans, cucumbers and summer squash while they are young, to enjoy them at their peak of tenderness and flavor and to keep the plants in production.

  Harvest shallots and garlic after the tops have died down.

• SECURE NEW TOMATO STEM GROWTH to the plants' stakes as the stems elongate, and snap off suckers that develop where leaf stems join the main stem of the plant.

• HANGING BASKETS WILL NEED WATER daily in warm weather. To freshen the appearance of basket plantings, clip away dead parts and trim the plants back a little. Top up the soil with a little rich and humusy planting mix, and water with a mild fish fertilizer solution.

• CLEAR HARVESTED VEGETABLE AREAS that hosted plants such as broad beans, early pea vines, and lettuce and cabbage stumps. Chop or cut the roots and stumps up for the compost, and replant the emptied sites with fall vegetables. Or, seed the plots with buckwheat as a weed-suppressing summer cover crop that will enrich the soil when it is dug under during its flowering period -- about six weeks after seeding.

• SET THE LAWN MOWER A LITTLE HIGHER for the summer months. Longer grass shades the roots, conserves moisture, and inhibits weed growth. For minimal stress to the lawn, and for short clippings that break down easily to nourish the grass plants, mow often.

• MAINTAIN MOISTURE IN COMPOST PILES, and fluff them up every week or so to introduce fresh air and stimulate microbial activity for speedy decomposition.

• To assist the setting of pods in dry, warm weather, APPLY A FINE WATER SPRAY OFTEN TO RUNNER BEAN FLOWERS. Keep the plants consistently well watered, and mulch with compost to reduce moisture loss and enrich the soil.

• PRUNE WISTERIA this month. Leave just four or five leaf stems on the new growth made this year. The new growth will be noticeably smoother and greener than last year's growth.