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03 July 2009
If you're growing your own veg this will be one of the most productive months....and if it is the first time you've grown your own, it'll also be one of the most exciting ! There should be a lot to harvest . A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed the most delicious meal imaginable, including freshly dug new potatoes - a combination of Charlotte and Nadine, liberally dressed with melted butter and chopped chives, the first of the courgettes and sweeter than sweet sugar-snap peas. MMMMMmmmmm! The great thing is about these peas, they have top be picked really regularly to keep the crop coming!!
But there's no doubt that it's also proving to be a difficult month for most areas of the country, with some of the h0ttest weather for years and little sign of rain. This means watering will need to be a priority, especially for those crops which are likely to fail or to 'bolt' (basically start to form flowers) when suffering from drought. Crops such as lettuces, rocket, onions and of course all the peas and beans need to be kept moist if at all possible. Don't shy away from mulching your vegetable crops once the soil is thoroughly moistened, it'll make a huge difference. Home made compost, coco-shell, composted bark or anything similar should do the trick and it'll not only cut down on the water needed, but help to provide better conditions for the plants.
It is not just your vegetables that will need extra water, but some ornamentals will need it too. Make sure you use re-cycled water wherever possible, attach a diverter to the downpipe from the bath or shower, and to the drainpipe coming from the house roof, link these in to water butts and you'll be amazed at what you collect ! Sweetpeas soon start to falter if dry at the roots, and also pay special attention to plants that re prone to powdery mildew (white fungal 'dust' on the leaves) as these generally suffer far more severely with this infection when they are dry at the roots.
It's worth grabbing the secateurs or a sharp pair of scisors or shears (depending on the size of the plant) and giving herbaceous perennials such as the geraniums a bit of a hair cut as soon as they have finished flowering. A good trim over at this stage will often encourage a second, somewhat smaller , display of flowers later in the year and also helps to keep the plant more compact.
Keep an eye out for the young stages of ladybirds - the scuttley black and oragne marked larvae, and the rounded, legless 'bobbles' that attach themselves to leaves. The strange, shapeless objects are less readily recognised and are the pupae, so it is out of these that the adult ladybird will eventually emerge.
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