 | | Your organic allotment - July | | | | July in the vegetable garden
- Top Tasks for July
- Sow or Plant in July
- Jobs for July
It’s the height of summer. Days are long, temperatures are most likely at their highest, and all being well, you’re harvesting something delicious from your plot almost every day. But July is often a dry month too. Watering is crucial. Most crops need a steady, unbroken supply of water. Interruptions cause problems such as flowers falling, fruits failing to form, skins splitting, premature bolting, and diseases such as tomato blossom end rot. Spreading mulches helps conserve moisture from any rain you do get – and will also keep down weeks.
Top Tasks for July
Harvest French and runner beans, courgettes, carrots, beetroot, onions, shallots, new potatoes and summer salads
Pick cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries and blueberries
Sow the last of your beetroot, Florence fennel, French beans and peas for this year
Plant out cabbages, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale for the autumn and winter.
Water as often as you can to keep crops growing healthily and to prevent them from bolting.
Feed tomatoes regularly and pinch out side shoots
Thin out apples and pears if it looks like your’re going to have a bumper crop
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| | | SOW OR PLANT IN JULY
VEGETABLE
Seeds to sow | | | Turnips
Beetroot
Peas
Calabrese
Oriental leaves |
| Carrotts
Florence fennel
Kale
Kohi rabi
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| Swiss chard/Spinach beet
Cabbages (spring)
Radishes (winter)
Sprouting broccoli
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| SALAD
Seeds to sow | | | Chicory (sugarloaf and red)
Endive
Lettuces
Radishes
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| Rocket
Salad leaves
Spring onions
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| Brussels sprouts, cabbages and cauliflowers
July is the time to sow cabbages for next spring, if you choose the right variety. If space is tight, sow them in a temporary seedbed and transplant them later in the year. Now is your lat change to plant out any Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages and autumn cauliflowers that you’ve been growing from seed.
Broccoli
It’s late for sowing or planting broccoli now, although certain cultivars may still give you an autumn crop.
Endive and chicory
Continue sowing both sugarloaf and radicchio forms of chicory. It’s probably your last chance to sow or plant out endive. |
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| | | | Florence fennel and kohl rabi
Sow a few more fennel seeds this month for a crop in the autumn, before the first hard frosts. And some more kohi rabi too – they should then last you through until Christmas.
Peas and French beans
This is your last chance for sowing or planting out peas and beans. Any later and the pods are unlikely to develop before the onset of frosts.
Leaf vegetables
Continue to sow kale, Swiss chard and Oriental leaves such as mizuna, mibuna, chop suey greens, Chinese broccoli and mustard greens. They are hardy enough to last well into autumn.
Leeks
Finish transplanting or ‘dibbing in’ leeks raised in pots, modules or temporary seedbeds. They should all be in their final growing position this month.
Lettuces and other salad crops
Succession sow more lettuce, Root vegetables rocket, land cress, corn salad and other salad leaves for an ongoing supply in autumn.
Sow your last batch of beetroot now. Late varieties of carrots and turnips can still go in next month. |
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| | | Jobs for July
Weed regularly
Don’t’ ease up on hoeing. Weeds will be growing as vigorously as everything else on your plot. One consolation, however, is that some plants – those that produce lots of foliage such as potatoes, courgettes and squashes – may keep weeds at bay by covering the ground and depriving them of sunlight.
Water to prevent bolting
Certain vegetables have a natural tendency to flower and run to seed as days lengthen and temperatures rise. Lettuces, rocket, spinach, cauliflowers and Florence fennel are particularly prone. Watering regularly can help delay or even prevent bolting.
Mulch to conserve moisture
As soon as possible after rain, spread mulches, such as garden compost, well-rotted manure and even grass cuttings to retain moisture in the soil and keep it damp.
Net against birds
Continue to ensure that peas, brassicas and soft fruit are all securely netted to keep off scavenging birds.
Dry out garlic, onions and shallots
A few days before you harvest them, loosen the soil around the roots. Choose a dry spell of weather, lift the bulbs and lay them on the ground in the sun. The more thoroughly you dry them, the longer they will keep.
Pinch out tops of climbing beans
Climbing beans don’t really know when to stop. Pinch out the growing tips when they reach the top of your canes, or they will quickly become tangled and top heavy.
Spray runner beans
It’s said that spraying flowers with water deters them from falling and encourages the formation of bean pods; regular watering at the base of the plants, may be just as effective.
Pinch out tomato shoots
Nip off the side shoots that appear in the ‘V’ between leaf stems and the main stems of vine tomatoes. And pinch out the growing tip at the top of the plant once four or five trusses have formed.
Feed tomatoes and peppers
Start regularly watering tomatoes and peppers with a liquid feed as soon as you see that the first fruits have formed. Feeding encourages both flowers and fruits.
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| | | | Cover heads of cauliflowers
Protect white heads from turning yellow in the sun by pulling outside leaves over them and tying them in place.
Blanch celery and endives
Earth up trench celery to keep the stems out of the light and place plates over curly endives to blanch the leaves.
Earth up brassicas and potatoes
Pull earth up around the stalks of Brussels sprouts and other brassicas if they seem unsteady and give them a top-dressing of organic liquid feed. Keep an eye on potatoes and if necessary continue to earth them up.
Take cuttings of herbs
Propagate perennial and shrubby herbs such as rosemary, sage and thyme by taking semi-ripe softwood or stem cuttings. | | | | Article from ‘Allotment – Month by Month by Alan Buckingham |
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