"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

Summer has finally arrived!

We're half way through the year already! How is everyone doing? I'd love to hear about both your successes and possible failures. Perhaps you can tell me in person at the Barnes Pond Market, Sat 2nd July, details below.

Watering and picking I find are the main jobs of this month together with a fair bit of pruning and general tidying up. There's always something to do isn't there. 😁

So what have we got in store for you this month?

What to sow and grow in July.

The only way is up - Vertical growing

Not all weeds are equal - The dreaded Couch Grass

Tame those Tomatoes!

Barnes Pond Monthly Fair - Come and say Hello!

And lastly, Lottie news and members questions.

🥦🍅🥒🌶🍠🌽🍓🫑🫐🍐🥕

What to sow and grow in July.

Even though we've passed the Solstice there are still quite a few things we can sow or plant.

You can direct sow Coriander, Dill and Parsley. Pak Choi is less likely to bolt if direct sown along with Perpetual Spinach, which will give both an Autumn and Winter harvest. It's your last chance to direct sow Peas, and Turnips are good for a quick harvest in about 60 days. If you like them, which personally I don't, Endive and Raddichio are good to sow now. If you like things peppery, Wild Rocket and Land Cress are great for continual picking.

If you didn't get any succession sowings of Beetroot, Carrots, Lettuce and Spring Onions last month there's still time. There's also still time for French Beans and Runner Beans.

If you're heading down to the garden centre don't forget some Sprouting Broccoli, Winter Cabbage, Cauliflowers, Leeks and Brussel Sprouts for your winter veg.

Vertical growing

If you're struggling to find space to grow more veggies or you don't have much space in the first place, growing vertically can be the answer.

I'm sure most of you have seen Runner Beans growing up a bamboo wigwam, but did you know you can grow things like Sweet Potatoes and Courgettes vertically as well?

When you only have a small space to grow like on a balcony or in a small yard, investing in some good, large pots and some trellis can be a great way to grow things like Borlotti Beans, Cucumbers, Peas and even Squashes and Pati-Pans. The benefits of growing skyward is that you can then grow a second crop underneath, or maybe some companion plants or herbs.

Although I have already planted my Courgettes I quite fancy having a go at getting them vertical. Check out the video below for some good tips.

Not all weeds are equal - Couch Grass

This fairly innocuous looking grass is the bane of many allotmenteers and gardeners. It is a vigorous, perineal grass that once it gets a hold can quickly spread everywhere. The tangle of roots not only crowd out other plant roots, but they also produce a chemical substance that slows down the development of other plants.

The best way to get rid of it is to use a fork and hand fork to dig up the long *rhizomes that if left in the ground will simply grow into a new plants. If you dig with a spade you are more likely to cut the roots into smaller pieces, which will then grow into separate plants very much in the same way that Bindweed does.

It's only saving grace is that Couch grass does however have medicinal properties. The roots are very useful in the treatment of a wide range of kidney, liver and urinary disorders like cystitis.

*Gardening terminology - Rhizomes

A continuously growing horizontal underground stem which puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.

😉 Come & say hello! 👋

I'm keeping my fingers crossed weather wise for Saturday 2nd July, as I'll be at the Barnes Pond Market with a variety of plants and quite a few jars of Organic Allotment Jam for sale.

If you're nearby it would be lovely to see you there and perhaps I can answer in person any of your food gardening questions you might have. As I always say, I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to guide you in the right direction.

Barnes Pond Market

Saturday, July 2, 2022

9:30 AM 2:00 PM

Barnes Pond Collectors' Market

Barnes Pond, Station Rd, London SW13 9HG

Tame Those Tomatoes!

If there's one job in the garden or on your allotment that needs to be kept on top of, apart from weeding of course, it's pinching out the side shoots of your Tomato plants. Why? If you don't your plants will most likely become very unruly and shade out the fruit that will be growing under all the excess foliage and therefore not ripen.

Tomatoes need plenty of free flowing air and lots of sunshine. Snipping or cutting out the side shoots and the lower leaves on the main stem will allow air and sunshine to get in and ripen off your lovely Toms. This is very true for Indeterminate, Cordon or Vine Tomatoes, whatever you like to call them. For Bush or Determinate Tomato plants it's not so vital that you prune the side shoots, as the name implies they bush out, but it's still important to trim some of the lower leaves so they don't trail on the ground and possibly pick up pests and diseases from the soil.

It's very easy to miss the side shoots, as they can grow very fast and if that happens and you find a big side shoot that has a flower truss on it, don't worry it's not a problem, just leave it to grow.

When your plants really get going I would check for side shoots every two or three days and prune them when they're small.

I searched high and low for a decent short video on explaining how to prune Tomato suckers/side shoots and though the first one is not very good quality, it does explain it well.

Alternatively you can watch the lovely Mr. Titchmarsh below.

Lottie News!

With all the warmth, sunshine and the recent downpours we've had, the Lottie has gone a bit bonkers, with everything putting on a massive growth spurt. I've had quite a few successes and a couple of disasters this past month.

The biggest success has been my Broccoli and the Red Currents. Almost 3 kilos of Red Currents just from one bush and several nice big heads of Broccoli with lots of smaller side shoots as well. I just wish I'd planted more.

A nice harvest of Maris Bard Potatoes out of the first lot of Potato bags was very welcome even though we discovered a large ants nest inside! The Charlottes will be harvested this weekend swiftly followed by the 2nd early Nicolas.

The Rhubarb is now coming thick and fast, but the Strawberry experiment in the guttering was a dismal failure. I have a feeling that the Strawberry plants had some sort of fungal disease and transplanting the plants into the guttering was too much stress for them and most of them gave up the ghost. I'm going to persevere with new plants though next year, which I'm trying to grow from seed on my windowsill.

The other disaster was my Garlic, which I was very disappointed with as all the bulbs were badly affected by rust. I'm now going to have to find another bed to grow them in next year, one that hasn't had rust or the Allium Leaf Minor in.

All of the Beans are beginning to flower, the Sweetcorn is looking lush and the Tomatoes in the poly tunnel are filling out. The absolute success was catching 17 slugs overnight in one of my homemade slug pubs. Seeing as the first temporary pubs was so good I'm working on making some more durable ones to go in other areas of the Lottie.

Members Questions.

"My Tomato plants are still quite small, do you think they will fruit in time?"

There's still plenty of time. Pot them up into bigger pots with fresh compost and maybe give them a bit of seaweed feed each time you water them and then put them in the sunniest spot making sure you don't let the compost dry out. They should soon catch up. Once the first baby Tomato forms, change the feed to a high Potash one like 'Tomorite' or an organic one like Comfrey tea. If you don't have any Comfrey tea to hand there are some organic Tomato feeds on the market. The one I'll be using this year is 'Neudorff' which is made of natural plant materials as opposed to chemicals.

Check out www.gardening-naturally.com

If you have a food gardening question you'd like to ask just pop me an email and I'll see how I can help. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to answer any of your questions.

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might like to become a FG4A member do feel free to forward them this email and get them to visit the website and sign up, it's free!

Or you can always catch up with what I've been up to on Facebook or instagram.

Keep safe.

Christine x

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