Kitchen Garden July 2017

Although there is plenty to do in the garden this month it’s also important to take some time out to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labours. With this in mind we have a special feature on patio produce, including original suggestions on how to make some mouthwatering barbecue dishes from your home-grown delights. If the pruning of stone fruits, which includes some of our most delicious summer harvests such as cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and nectarines, is a bit of a mystery to you, turn to page 66. There our resident fruit expert David Patch explains how to go about it in easy steps. We also have great features on growing your free seeds this month which include Cape gooseberries and borage. We show you how to make…

SUE STICKLAND Former head gardener Sue turns her attention to those exoticlooking fruits, Cape gooseberries and tomatillos this month and explains how to turn your free seeds into succulent golden berries STEVE NEAL Steve is a keen plotter and last year helped to open his allotments under the National Garden Scheme. Read about his experiences starting on page 26 and perhaps you’ll be opening your site, too TONY FLANAGAN Staff writer Tony has an allotment and two large polytunnels at his home in Lincolnshire. In this issue he explains how to get the best from a crop that can be a little challenging, but well worth the effort: melons ANNA PETTIGREW We just love editing Anna’s pages, but try never to do it mid-morning – one look at the mouthwatering…

10 MINUTE JOBS FEED TOMATOES Tomatoes growing outside should be making good growth now and starting to develop several trusses of fruit. It’s important that the plants get plenty of nutrients, especially potash, so feed once a week with a high-potash fertiliser to help the fruits develop and ripen. CHECK APPLE TREES When the natural ‘June drop’ on apples has finished, which is often July in the north, check your trees to see how much fruit has remained. On cooking apples aim for one or two fruits per cluster and on eating varieties leave two or three. LIFT GARLIC Lift bulbs of garlic from the garden as you need it or when the foliage starts to die down. When freshly lifted it has a sweet flavour and if allowed to…

CUT KOHL RABI Kohl rabi is a vegetable with a difference and some describe it as a cross between a turnip and cabbage. It’s really easy to grow and will grow quickly if kept watered in dry weather. The swollen stem is what is eaten and if eating it raw in salads it needs to be picked before it gets too large and woody, ideally about the size of a tennis ball. Tasks this month PICK ASPARAGUS PEAS For something a little different on your dinner plate have a go with asparagus peas. Amember of the legume family, the plants produce very pretty, red flowers that develop into triangular shaped pods that have a delicate flavour and resemble asparagus, hence its name. The whole pod is eaten and you need…

■ Basil likes warm growing conditions and young plants that have been raised in pots can be planted out into a sunny part of the garden where they should be fine. ■ Continue to earth-up main crop potatoes as the stems grow. To make this a little easier, use a three-tined drag to loosen the soil between the rows and then use a draw hoe to pull the soil up to form the ridges. ■ To keep runner beans growing and fruiting, water along the rows to thoroughly moisten the soil and then apply a good thick mulch of grass clippings around the base of the plants to seal in moisture. ■ Courgettes can start to run out of steam by mid-summer, so feed them once a week with a…

Pictures by Ben Russell July is a gloriously productive month in the greenhouse. All those tiny tomato plants have grown into strapping adults and are producing delicious and fragrant fruits; peppers are swelling, cucumbers are ridiculously abundant, there are enough beans to fill a freezer, and that’s before we mention sweetcorn, melons or courgettes. Keep up with the harvest and enjoy the taste of the freshest vegetables and fruits, but be vigilant too: this is a month when pests and diseases should be thwarted before they gain a hold. SOW & PLANT IN JULY ■ Start sowing for winter crops this month. More can be sown until October, but July sowings ensure some plentiful autumn, winter and early spring harvests. ■ Sow Swiss chard, spring cabbage, Florence fennel and parsley,…