Fireworks blasted off at the beginning of this month, and so is the garden: Many perennials peak, annuals spread like wildfire, and summer vegetables take a place at the table. Ensure they remain healthy and vigorous by following these tips and chores all month long.

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

- Accommodate for rainfall, or a lack thereof, and ensure the lawn gets 1 to 1½ inches of water per week. Less-frequent, deeper watering trumps a daily sprinkle.

- Change the water in birdbaths often.

- Happy Fourth of July! Alas, there will be no independence from garden chores. Today is prime time to fertilize the lawn.

- For more verbena, euonymus, ivy and climbing roses, pull a stem to the ground and cover with soil. Cut away when roots grow and plant elsewhere.

- To protect against late blight, treat potato and tomato plants with a fungicide containing chlorothalonil (or copper, if growing organic) and reapply every week.

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

- Shear creeping phlox, sweet alyssum and candytuft now, and you’ll have fuller plants with more flowers next year.

- Add one bunch of eelgrass per square foot of surface water to ponds to inhibit algae growth.

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

- Join the Great Long Island Tomato Challenge by sending a photo of your plant and your growing strategy to jessica.damianonewsday.com.

- To stave off powdery mildew, thin crowded plants, water only in the morning and aim water at roots, not leaves.

- Water and turn the compost pile.

- For larger dahlia blooms, remove side shoots from main stems.

- Today’s the last day to shear hedges this year without risking damage.

- Fertilize flowering perennials now with a 5-10-5 product to increase blooming.

- For the best flavor, harvest herbs around 10 a.m. after the dew has dried, but before the sun is at its strongest.

- For fuller chrysanthemums and more fall flowers, cut plants back by one-third now. No worries about removing buds; they’ll make more.

- Ensure trees planted this spring get a total of 1½ inches of water per week from rain or supplemental irrigation.

- Pick flowers in the morning so they’ll last longer in a vase; clip them late in the day if you plan to dry them.

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

- Harvest potatoes when leaves begin to die back.

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

- Go on a search-and-destroy mission for tomato hornworms. Pick them off by hand and drop them into a bucket of soapy water.

- Deadhead grandiflora roses and hybrid teas.

- Pick melons when their skins turn yellow and stems feel loose.

- “Moon gardeners” claim to notice rapid plant growth during the full moon. Observe plants this week and share your findings at jessica.damianonewsday.com.