July 2023 full beds, sowings, make compost
This is a key month of the whole year. As well as offering many harvests, it offers the chance to sow and plant many more vegetables. As well as giving more to eat through late autumn and winter, this keeps soil full of plants. See my July newsletter for more details, also my growing notes for July 2022.
It’s more healthy for soil to be growing plants than to be empty. One of the fallacies of old teachings is that “soil needs a rest”, whatever that means! With No-Dig, your soil is healthy, fertile and can grow a second crop each year, without addition of any extra organic matter,. An exception is chalky or sandy soil which may need more compost in summer, for moisture retention above all.
My garden tour of 30th June gives an idea of mid point in the growing season, and the easy success rate from growing no dig.
The first photo below is squash growing in soil which was grass and perennial weeds just five months earlier, see my advice on ways to start no dig.
New Sowings through July
In the first week sow beetroot and carrots (direct only).
By mid month sow chicory for radicchio.
At any time sow salad onions, lettuce and endive.
After mid month sow Florence fennel, coriander, chervil and Chinese cabbage.
For salad brassicas such as salad rocket and mustard, also pak choi, I find it best to sow in early August, when there are fewer flea beetles.
Seize the moment for making compost
There is a lot of material available to make compost. We are adding large amounts of hedge prunings. Cutting is quick with an electric Stihl, and then it’s effective to use a rotary lawnmower to chop prunings while collecting them. They are close to a perfect mix of green and brown, thanks to the wood at this time of year still being quite green and moist, so it’s quick to decompose.
There are many ways to make compost and this recent, brief video gives you some ideas. Also I explain why it’s totally fine to put weeds on compost heaps.
I’m giving an afternoon course in making compost here, 12th July.
New clothing!
We brainstormed new slogans and Nicola (my PA) designed the shirts. See the many options on Teemill.
Can you tell me why I only seem to have male flowers on my courgette plants. I have some in pots and some in the raised bed.
That is not normal and it could be to do with the variety you have grown. I had some plants this year of Costates Romanesco and I had to take them out because they hardly gave any fruit, lots of male flowers and they were enormous.
We have grown ‘Romanesco’ (Franchi) for many years and before that a variety called Clarella, no longer available. These are so-called ribbed varieties and tend to hold their shape a lot better when frying etc. In the frying pan when sliced into centimetre chunks, they look like little gear-wheels all trying to mesh together! This year, they started by producing weird spherical, semi-round and very dark green fruit (normally pale). Nothing that we’d ever seen in the past. They do seem to be settling down a bit, but it has been a strange growing year…
Hello Simon
Yes a strange year. Thanks for feedback, I am planting mine tomorrow.
how can i avoid pea moth growing Alderman peas can i start later or do i need to avoid growing peas for a year great crop but some have moth damage.
I manage it by sowing early March, then grow under fleece 4-5 weeks after transplanting. Peas crop mostly before the moth flies.
Later sowings do not grow so many peas and suffer mildew
Hi Charles,
I hope that you are well.
I wanted to ask whether potato blight lives on in the soil from one year to the next, surviving winter? I’m hoping to keep the potatoes in the same bed next year and it’s really interesting you’ve managed to do the same for 9 years.
I usually grow Vivaldi 2nd Earlies just because our allotments are hit by blight around this time so they get most of their growing done before it takes hold.
Thanks again for sharing your expertise.