July may seem the month where all your hard work pays off and you can finally sit and admire your garden. Flowers will be in full bloom, some fruit and veg are ready to harvest and patios will be looking their best.But don’t let things slide – because some jobs just won’t wait.1. Keep watering(Alamy/PA)July is often dry, so it’s important to keep on top of watering. If you have to prioritise, give container plants and hanging baskets a good soak daily. You can leave mature borders a little longer as roots will find moisture deeper into the ground, but as soon as leaves start to wilt, don’t delay with watering. Try to water early in the morning when it’s cooler – and re-apply mulch to borders and pots to retain moisture.2. Prepare for holidaysIf you’re away in July, see if friends or neighbours will water in your absence. If not, place pots together in a cool, shady area where they can create their own little microclimate and give them a thorough soaking before you go. Place saucers under pots to retain water and make sure plants are still exposed to the elements, so that if it rains they will benefit.Deadhead everything before you go – even buds – and then hopefully there will be a better show on your return. And if you have a bit of time in July, it might be an idea to install an automatic irrigation system to make sure your plants will survive in your absence.3. Prune early-flowering shrubsPrune shrubs which have already flowered, such as forsythia, wisteria, weigela and philadelphus, and deadhead shrub roses, climbers and ramblers after flowering.4. Watch out for pests and diseases(Alamy/PA)The month can bring a combination of high temperatures and moist air, which can lead to infestations of aphids on the stems and buds of plants. If you catch them early, pick them off with your thumb and fingers – hopefully their natural predators such as ladybirds will keep populations down. Pick red lily beetles off your lilies to stop them making huge holes in both the leaves and the flowers.5. Hoe regularlyIn a warm, damp July, weeds can appear overnight, so give your borders a good hoe every few days to stop weed seedlings taking hold.6. Feed plants(Alamy/PA)By mid-summer, many plants will need extra nutrients, so feed the garden borders and pots again with a liquid fertiliser, particularly hungry plants such as roses, sweet peas and dahlias. Summer bedding and tender perennials in pots will have used up a lot of the nutrients from the compost you planted them in. One fertiliser which you generally can’t go wrong with is tomato feed, which contains the necessary potash which all flowering plants need.7. Take semi-ripe cuttingsIf you are looking to increase your stock, now is the time to take semi-ripe cuttings of shrubs including hydrangea, philadelphus and choisya. It’s easy to root them in pots of gritty compost under cover or even with a plastic bag over them, according to the RHS.8. Begin harvesting(Alamy/PA)If you started your tomatoes off early, the first of them may be starting to ripen in the greenhouse, but make sure you leave them until they are completely red, to maximise flavour. Other edibles grown in the greenhouse including peppers may be just about ripe, but again the longer you leave them the more flavour you will have.In the vegetable garden, harvest radish, rocket, courgettes, baby beetroot and French beans and do it as they ripen or your beans will become tough and your courgettes will turn into marrows. If you’ve too many beans, blanch and freeze them.Harvest raspberries, redcurrants, gooseberries and blackcurrants.8. Cut back perennialsCut back early-flowering hardy perennials including lady’s mantle (alchemilla), hardy geraniums and catmint (nepeta), which have finished flowering and will need tidying up, but may produce a second flush of blooms if you do it now. Spent lupin stems can also be cut back and may provide a second flush of smaller blooms.9. Continue to sow(Alamy/PA)If you have room on your veg patch, continue to sow lettuce, oriental leaves, maincrop carrots, spring onions, spinach and beetroot. If you like peas, you could sow an early variety now to give you a harvest in late summer and early autumn.10. Clean up your pondRemove algae, blanket weeds and debris from ponds to help keep your pond water clear. Debris such as leaves and stems rots quickly in water and can affect the nutrient balance. Drape waterweeds over the side of the pond for a few days to let the water life escape, then put it on the compost heap. And keep your pond topped up because water will evaporate in hot, sunny weather.