July is far from the end of the planting season—it's a second chance for a productive garden. This Master Gardener's guide shows Portsmouth gardeners which fast-growing vegetables, fall crops, and cheerful annuals can still go in the ground, plus how to help them establish in midsummer heat. With smart choices and consistent watering, your Zone 6b garden can keep giving well into fall.

If your bearded iris bloomed beautifully but has looked crowded ever since, late summer is the perfect time to divide. Here's an Exeter gardener's guide to lifting, dividing, and replanting rhizomes for a healthier, more abundant bloom next year.

Pruning roses doesn’t have to be complicated. On the NH Seacoast, the key is timing: start with hard pruning in early spring, deadhead throughout summer, and avoid heavy cuts after September to prevent frost damage. With proper care—deep watering, compost, mulch, and disease-resistant varieties—roses can bloom beautifully from spring through fall. For larger or overgrown shrubs, professional pruning ensures safety and maximum blooms.

By late July, even the prettiest container gardens start to fade, leggy petunias, thirsty soil, and salt-stressed leaves are all part of a Rye summer. Here's how to give your pots a mid-season refresh so they look just as good in September as they did in June.

Exeter's warm summers and well-drained soils make it an ideal spot for growing herbs, but the season is short. Learn how to harvest at peak flavor and dry rosemary, basil, thyme, and more so you can enjoy your garden's bounty all winter long.

Beneath every thriving garden is an invisible world of soil microbes working hard to keep plants fed and resilient. In Rye's sandy, salt-exposed coastal soil, summer heat puts that biology to the test. Discover simple, expert-backed habits, from smart mulching to deep watering, that protect your soil's living foundation all season long.