Early July On The Allotment
What an amazing bounty we reap at this time of year. All our hard work of spring and early summer is coming to fruition as a vast array of crops come to maturity. Picking soft fruit has been underway for a few weeks with strawberries now coming to an end and raspberries in full production. Gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants are at their best now.
Vegetables cropping now include salads of many kinds, summer cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, beetroot, spring onions, peas, the first runner beans and carrots.
Jobs to do: clear away the last of the broad beans once they have finished cropping. Pick lettuces regularly (I use the Charles Dowding method of outer leaf picking for a long and productive harvesting period). As crops are cleared, have replacement plugs to continue growing. Keep weeds down. Water thirsty plants in dry spells. In the greenhouse use shading during very hot weather. Keep watering. Pick tomatoes and cucumbers regularly. Check brassicas regularly for cabbage white caterpillars.
To sow now: lettuce, spring onions, beetroot, French beans, kohl rabi and endives all in modules. Sow more herbs under cover too: basil, parsley and coriander. Sow carrots straight into the ground.
