July 2026 · Seasonal notes

Holding a border through drought and heatwave

July is when a border shows you whether the work of the last nine months was honest. The gardens that were fed, divided and staked in spring are carrying themselves now. The ones that were not are starting to lean, gap and sulk. And this year there is a harder test on top: a run of record heat and a genuine drought. Our own corner of the country, the Cam and Ely Ouse catchment, is one of the few areas of England in official drought status, and Cambridge Water has brought in its first hosepipe ban in thirty years. So this month the job is not just holding the display. It is deciding what to protect.

Triage before anything else

In a drought you cannot water everything, and you should not try. Anything planted in the last twelve months goes to the top of the list, its roots have not yet found the deep moisture. Pots and containers next, they have nowhere else to draw from. Established trees, shrubs and borders go to the bottom. They will look tired, but most have the root depth to come through. A garden that has been watered deeply and infrequently over the years will prove it now.

Let the lawn go

Brown grass is dormant, not dead. A lawn will green up within a fortnight of proper rain, and watering turf during a hosepipe ban is both prohibited and pointless. Raise the mower blades, cut less often, and leave the clippings on as a thin mulch. The most expensive-looking gardens in the county have brown lawns this month. It is a sign of sense, not neglect.

Deadhead with intent, not habit

Deadheading is not tidying. It is a decision about where the plant spends its energy next, and in a dry year that matters double, because every flower a plant sets costs it water. Hardy geraniums, salvias, nepeta and delphiniums will all give a second flush if cut back hard, though be realistic about how strong it will be without rain. Roses want the classic cut to an outward facing bud. Leave anything you value for seedheads or winter structure well alone.

Water less often, much deeper

This has always been the advice here, and a drought year is why. A light sprinkle every evening trains roots to sit at the surface, where they cook. A thorough soak, once or twice a week at most, from a can or stored water where restrictions apply, trains them to go down. Water at dawn or dusk so it soaks rather than steams off, straight to the base of the plant, never over the leaves. And if you have water butts, this is the year they pay for themselves. If you do not, make fitting them your first job of the autumn.

What not to do

Do not feed stressed plants, fertiliser pushes soft growth the plant cannot support without water. Do not plant anything new until the autumn rains, whatever the garden centres are selling. And do not prune hard in the heat, open wounds and fresh growth are the last thing a struggling shrub needs. Mulch anything bare-soiled now if you can, even a couple of inches locks moisture in.

The gardens under our care are walked weekly through summer for exactly these reasons. Most of what carries a garden through a drought is not heroics with a hosepipe. It is ten small decisions made at the right moment, and the deep roots built in the years before.