As summer unfolds, July presents prime opportunities for enhancing your self-sufficiency through effective garden management. Here’s your essential guide to maximising productivity this month:
Essential Self-Sufficiency Gardening Tips for July
Sowing and Planting
Vegetables:
Spring Cabbage, Turnips, and More: Now is the time to sow spring cabbage, turnips, Oriental vegetables, chicory, fennel, and autumn/winter salads.
Carrots: You can still sow carrots, but be mindful of carrot flies when thinning seedlings.
Beans: This is the last opportunity to sow French beans and runner beans, particularly in the south of England.
Winter Crops: If not already done, plant out leeks and brassicas for a steady winter supply.
Pruning and Training
Fruit:
Fan-Trained Trees: Continue training your fan-trained trees.
Cherries: Prune cherries immediately after harvesting if needed.
Gooseberries and Currants: Complete the summer pruning of gooseberries, redcurrants, and white currants.
Kiwi Fruit: If not pruned last month, now is the time to summer prune your kiwi fruit.
Indoor Melons: Remove the lower side shoots of indoor melons up to a height of 30cm (12in).
Addressing Problems
Aphids: Regularly inspect your plants for aphids.
Blight: Be vigilant for signs of potato blight and tomato blight.
Asparagus Beetle: Keep an eye out for asparagus beetle.
Blossom End Rot: Watch for sunken brown patches on tomatoes, indicating blossom end rot.
Other Pests: Manage woolly aphid, plum rust, pear leaf blister mite, and pear rust.
General Care
Fruit:
Tree Ties: Regularly check and adjust tree ties as the girth of the tree trunk increases.
Watering: Use rainwater to regularly hydrate cranberries, lingonberries, and blueberries. When rainwater is scarce, tap water can suffice.
Pollination: Pollinate female indoor melon flowers, then pinch out 2cm (0.75in) beyond the flower.
Outdoor Melons: Pinch out the growing point of outdoor melons twice, at four-week intervals, and ensure they receive regular water and feed once established.
Suckers: Remove suckers appearing around the base of fruit trees.
Drought Stress: Ensure fruit trees, especially those in containers or against walls, are not drought-stressed.
Liquid Feeds: Regularly provide liquid feeds to plants growing in containers.
Vegetables:
Consistent Watering: Maintain a regular, consistent water supply for all vegetables to promote healthy growth and prevent diseases, disorders, and bolting.
Weeding: Continue hoeing weeds in dry weather to prevent them from re-rooting.
Cordon Tomatoes: Stop cordon tomatoes by removing the main shoot above the fourth truss to ensure all fruits ripen by the end of the season. Let bush tomatoes grow naturally.
Climbing Beans: Stop climbing beans when they reach the tops of their supports to maximise cropping on existing side shoots. Ensure they are sufficiently watered to aid seed pod setting.
Support and Secure: Check that climbing vegetables are securely tied to their supports.
Celery: Earth up non self-blanching celery cultivars with a protective collar of paper between the stems and the soil to promote blanching.
By following these tips and tasks, you can ensure your garden thrives throughout July and is well-prepared for the coming months. Happy gardening!
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