Page 43 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2022

Sweet peas cut regularly
Some of my harvest in July
to cut down the foliage and dispose of it to prevent the spores washing down into the soil. Do not put the foliage on the compost though. Either burn it or put it in the council re-cycling bin. After the foliage has been cut down the potatoes will not grow any larger so you may as well dig them all up.
If you have no signs of blight, just dig up a few at a time when you need them as I suggested last month.
Other vegetable crops you may have for harvesting this month, if sown or planted early enough are onions, shallots, salad crops and spring planted garlic. With garlic, wait until the foliage goes yellow. You
have probably been harvesting rhubarb since April, but it is best not to harvest any more after this month and let it die down naturally. The nutrient from the leaves and stems helps to feed the roots for next year. It would be helpful to give the plants a mulch as well.
In the fruit garden, you may have gooseberries, summer raspberries, and blackberries to harvest.
We are likely to get some hot weather this month so make sure you keep up with watering. Plants in pots like tomatoes may need watering every day. Do it either in the morning or evening if you can. If tomatoes go short of water, you are likely to get a disorder called blossom end rot. A black area appears at the bottom of the fruit. It is caused by the plant not being able to take
up enough calcium, owing to the shortage of water. Also, keep damping down the staging and floor as I suggested last month. Tomatoes may be ready for their first feed this month. Feeding should begin when the first fruits are just visible and continue once a week throughout the season. Use a feed especially formulated for tomatoes because they have a high proportion of potash.
Also, if they are being grown on the cordon system, keep removing the side shoots and keep them tied to the cane.
Lychnis chalcedonica (Maltese cross)
Tying plants to their canes also applies to many plants growing outside as well because most should be growing strongly now, particularly annual flowers, gladioli, Chrysanths and dahlias. In the case of annuals, dead head them regularly as I suggested last month.
Key to suppliers
D (Dobies), S (Suttons), B (Browns ), F (Fothergills ), R )Robinsons ), Sh (Shelleys ), M (Marshalls )
The first Cheddar cauliflowers
Simply Vegetables 43