Page 40 - ALG Issue 2 2015

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40
JULY
We can enjoy the hot summer days on the allotment but it is also the time to plan crops for the winter and next spring. Check through your seeds and sow the overwintering vegetables
that you enjoy towards the middle of the month. Watering, weeding and harvesting are the priority jobs but there is also
the enjoyment of harvesting. The shallots and garlic will be
in full supply and they will keep well into the New Year. The overwintered onions will not store for more than a couple of months but will keep you supplied until the main crop onions are harvested in a couple of months. July is the perfect month to relax and enjoy the fruits and vegetables of your
labours and to make plans for 2016.
Fruit
Checklist
Fruit in season: Blackcurrants, redcurrants, white currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries & blueberries. Thin apples to one fruit per spur if needed after June drop. Don’t be in too much of a hurry because sometimes the June drop will carry over into July. Always collect up all fallen fruit from under and around the trees.
Begin to prune the darker raspberry canes down to soil level after they have finished fruiting. Begin to train in the younger apple green canes for next season leaving about five new canes per 30cms/1 foot. Keep the paths between the rows clean.
Give all of the soft fruit bushes and plants a feed with a general fertiliser to build them up for next summer.
Earth up potatoes.
Draw soil over carrot roots.
Water peas & beans regularly to swell pods.
Keep on top of weeds.
Water when necessary.
Pinch outgrowing tips of trailing squashes
(mainly winter types) to limit them to one large
fruit or two medium/small fruits per trailing runner. Stop side shoots at first leaf joint.
Greenhouse
Vegetables
Only use spray controls in the cool of the evening when beneficial insects are not active.
Vegetables: Watch out for signs of potato blight. Remove haulms or spray with approved fungicide. Inspect regularly for signs of aphids, carrot fly and whitefly activity.
Sow: beetroot, Dwarf French beans (for a late crop), Swiss chard, carrots (see June), spring cabbage (first week for south, end of the month in the north), Calabrese, chicory, Chinese cabbage, endive, autumn lettuce, spring onions, winter spinach, radicchio, kohl rabi, pak choi, spinach and turnip.
Fruit: Apply the second application against Apple Codling moth during the first week of the month. Check for scab, mildew and woolly aphids and use an approved fungicide or pesticide for food produce to control. Inspect gooseberry and currant bushes for sawfly caterpillars and mildew.
Plant: Sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, autumn/winter cabbage and sweetcorn (early in the month).
Produce in season: Beetroot, broad beans, French beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, courgettes, cucumber, garlic, globe artichokes, kale, kohl rabi, lettuce, onions, shallots, spring onions, peas, early potatoes, radish, summer spinach, summer squash, Swiss chard and herbs.
Check strawberries for signs of mildew and cut foliage down to soil level on plants that have finished fruiting. Take care not to damage the new young buds in the crown of the plants. Cut runners joining baby plants to mother plants. Remove any runners and volunteer rooted plants.
Maintain biological controls.
Side shoot tomatoes, pinch out leader after four to five trusses have formed.
Keep feeding tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and melons. Harvest fruits regularly to maintain supply.
Pests and Diseases