July
In The Vegetable Garden This July
July is a busy and rewarding time in the vegetable garden. Here’s a list of top tips to keep your garden productive and healthy this month:
🌿 Sowing and Planting
Sow now for late crops:
- Lettuce, rocket, spinach (bolt-resistant varieties)
- Spring onions, radishes
- French beans (early July)
- Turnips, beetroot (quick-maturing types)
- Pak choi and Chinese cabbage (towards the end of July for autumn harvest)
- Succession sowing: Keep sowing salad crops every 2–3 weeks for a continuous supply.
- Plant out winter brassicas: If you haven’t yet, plant kale, purple sprouting broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. Protect from cabbage white butterflies.
🌞 General Care
- Water consistently: Especially during dry spells—early morning or evening is best.
- Mulch: Helps retain moisture and suppress weeds.
- Weed regularly: Don’t let weeds outcompete your crops for water and nutrients.
🐛 Pest and Disease Watch
- Net brassicas: Protect from pigeons and cabbage white butterflies.
- Watch for aphids, whitefly, and red spider mites: Use soapy water sprays or organic treatments.
- Slugs and snails: Keep traps and barriers in place.
🌱 Harvesting
Keep picking crops like:
- Courgettes (before they become marrows)
- Peas and beans (encourages more pods)
- Salad leaves, radishes, beetroot, early potatoes
🌼 Other Jobs
- Pinch out tomato sideshoots (for cordon types)
- Feed plants weekly: Use a high-potash feed for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers.
- Support tall crops: Beans, peas, and tomatoes may need extra support.
- Thin fruit on apple trees: If overloaded, remove some to improve quality and reduce stress.
This Month's Key Tips
- Water plants if dry daily, but be water-wise.
- Deadhead bedding plants and flowering perennials.
- Clear algae, blanket weed and debris from ponds.
- Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed.
- Plant second cropping potatoes now to give you new potatoes for Christmas.
