July - In the kitchen garden

On the Vegetable patch

1. Reduce water loss: do this by mulching and hoeing.
2. Sow the final seeds: turnips, beetroot, carrots, spring carrots and radishes can all still be sown.
3. Plant out: broccoli, cabbages and leeks can all be planted into firm soil now.
4. Tomatoes: pinch out side shoots and feed with Tomorite once a week.
5. Aubergines: remove growing tips after there are 5 fruits on the plant.
6. Courgettes: remove the growing tip and pick young fruit regularly to allow more fruits to grow.
7. Runner beans: harvest beans regularly to stop them from becoming stringy and to allow new beans to develop.
8. Check plants often for diseases, blackfly & butterfly eggs and remove anything you find including dead foliage.

Fruit plants:

1. Watering: give the plants a good soaking in dry spells. Especially those with swelling fruit such as apples.
2. Net! Net around fruit plants so that the birds don’t steal all of your harvest.
3. Thin fruit trees; this will help to produce a larger yield.
4. Feed any fruit plants in containers with a high potash feed such as Tomorite.
5. Prune; apricot, peach, plum, cherry and blackcurrant plants can be pruned once you have taken your harvest.