Page 49 - SV 3 2024

August 2024
The main sowing season is over, but you can still sow most of the seeds that I mentioned in June and July but choose varieties for winter and spring cropping. I told you the varieties of cabbage, cauliflowers and broccoli last month so please refer to those notes and also the notes I wrote about the sowing of the different seeds.
Varieties of lettuce for sowing now are Vailan Winter Gem (D), Arctic King (T) Marvel of four seasons (B), and Brighton (D). For radish there are China Rose (R), and Mantanghong ( D ) , and for corn salad the most readily available are Vit ( R. B. ) and for endive ,Pancalieri (R ). For the key to all these suppliers please see the end of this article.
If you have any spare ground that you won’t be using for a while you could sow a crop of green manure. When it has grown, you dig it into the soil to
enrich it.
You could also sow some hardy annual flowers such as cornflower, Californian poppies and Love in a mist. Just rake the soil
as finely as you can and sow the seeds in drills or broadcast them over the surface and rake them in.
I mentioned above a lot
of vegetable seeds that
you can sow now but if you had sown any of them earlier, in cell trays or pots they may be ready for planting now. Whatever you plant, rake some general fertiliser like Growmore or fish, blood and bone into the soil first.
Ball dahlia Mary’s Jomanda
Just rake the soil as finely as you can and sow the seeds in drills or broadcast them over the surface and rake them in
I mentioned planting strawberries last month but if you didn’t do so they must be planted now to get them established before the cold weather comes. While on the subject of strawberries you can remove the straw that you put under them and the netting from over them when you have picked all the fruit.
Onion sets can be planted for overwintering. Varieties for planting now are Senshyu yellow (S, T, M, B, F,), Radar (M, B, F,) Shakespeare (M. B. F, ) and Autumn Champion (( D, S, T, M,).
Many plants that were planted earlier
will benefit from a feed, both vegetables and flowers. I explained the various fertilisers last month so please refer to those notes. Flowering plants like dahlias and Chrysanths are happy with a general fertiliser in the growing stage but when they start to flower, switch to one with a higher proportion of potash.
Crops in the greenhouse like tomatoes and cucumbers still need feeding. While on the subject of tomatoes, the side shoots on cordon grown plants still need removing. Also, when the plants reach the top of the greenhouse pinch the tops off them. It is more important that the plants give their energy to ripening the fruits rather than making new growth and producing more tomatoes that will never ripen.
Jobs like watering and seeing that
plants are supported and tied properly, particularly climbing plants like sweet peas, and also dead heading will still be priorities this month. Apart from those I mentioned last month, a vegetable that needs a lot of water is celery.
Talking of celery, these plants and
also leeks need blanching. You can use corrugated cardboard, but I use builders damp proof material cut into rectangles of different sizes and I increase the length of the material as the plants grow.
Collarette dahlia Birkenshaw Garden Friends
Carrots growing in a bin
Simply Vegetables 49