Page 44 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2022

August
The main sowing season is over but many of the seeds mentioned the
last two months can still be sown, particularly those for winter and spring use. I mentioned last month the varieties of cabbage, cauliflowers, and broccoli to sow at this time of year. I always sow these in pots, but they don’t need extra heat to germinate
The varieties of lettuce I suggest for sowing now are Vailan Winter Gem (most suppliers), Marvel of 4 seasons (Sh, B), Arctic King (Sh), and Brighton (D). I prefer to sow these in cell trays. They can be grown in the greenhouse border but if you are planting them outside, I suggest you protect them with cloches.
Endive and corn salad can be grown the same way. Varieties of endive are Natasha (D, S,), and Pancalieri (R, Sh). Corn salad has varieties that are large leaved (D, S,) and Vit ( Sh, B.). Endive needs blanching about 3 months after sowing so If you sowed any earlier, you may have some ready for blanching. Just
Exibition onions harvested
way of improving the soil fertility.
So much for sowing so what is there for
planting? I mentioned planting strawberries last month. If you didn’t do them then plant them as soon as you can so that they will be established before the cold weather
the end of the July notes
Cordon apples and pears, plums,
cherries, gooseberries, red and white currants and summer raspberries can still be pruned as I described last month.
Many plants should be growing well now and would benefit from extra feeding. I have explained plant foods in the past, but it is worth repeating for newcomers to our hobby. Liquid feeds mixed in the watering can are best at this time of year because they are quick acting. The instructions for use, the analysis and dilution rate should be on the bottle or packet. There are three major plant foods, Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P) and Potash (K). Very simply, nitrogen
is for leaf and stem growth, phosphate is for root growth and potash for flowering and fruiting. The analysis on the bottle will be the proportions of these three elements (the N, P, K, ratio). What we call “balanced” or “general” fertilisers contain equal part of these three elements and suit many plants. All plants need each
of these three elements, but some need different proportions at different stages of growth. Chrysanths and dahlias are happy with balanced fertilisers during growth but benefit from a higher proportion of potash when they begin to flower. Tomato
tie the leaves together and cover the plants with plastic pots, blocking the drainage hole to exclude light.
Another crop you can sow in spare beds is green manure
comes.
You may have cabbages,
cauliflowers, and salad crops from earlier sowings ready for planting. You can start planting onion sets this month for use next spring.
If they are not in the shops and garden centres now, they soon will be and can
Radishes can also be
sown and there are varieties
for winter use, they are
better sown direct in the
beds in drills. Varieties for
winter are Black Spanish (S, R, Sh, B,), China Rose ( (Sh) and Mantanhong (D)
be planted during the next two or three months. You would get a better choice
of varieties from a specialist supplier, for example Senshyu yellow (D, S, M, B,), Shakespeare (D, S, M, B, F,), Autumn champion (D, S, M,), Radar (M, B, F,), and Electra ( D, S, B, F,). I plant them direct in the bed but not the onion bed because this bed is manured in winter, and I couldn’t do so if there were onions growing in it. I plant them in the bed which next year will be the root crop bed because this bed is not manured in winter. For the key to all these suppliers that I have mentioned, please see
Still on the subject of sowing, if you have some spare ground, you could sow some hardy annual flowers. They don’t need rich soil so you may not need to add any extra fertiliser. Just rake the soil as fine as you can and sow either broadcast or in drills. Suitable types are cornflower, Californian, pot marigold, poppies and Love in a mist. All these are in most catalogues.
Another crop you can sow in spare beds is green manure. When it has grown it is dug in to enrich the soil and is a very useful
Colourful annuals on allotment
Dahlia bed on allotment
44 Simply Vegetables