July is a wonderful month, but it is a very busy one if all the produce is to be harvested. Fruit is coming thick and fast and has to be picked on a daily basis. Likewise heavy cropping vegetables like french beans and courgettes and cucumbers. If left alone they will produce seed and give up the will to live, so failure to spend time picking is a double whammy, you lose the present and future produce. It is important to engage a friend to cover for you if you go on holiday, otherwise you face the disappointment of more than just weeds on your return. What better than to spend the early evening gathering in the crops and then preparing them for the freshest and tastiest dinner you can imagine.(see Basil and Doyle in the recipe section) No time for planting now, although salad crops will still be a worthwhile digression to maintain the supply through to the first frosts. In case June plantings have not been made, I have included June's table below. Picking Time and Planting more Salad This is the time for picking: peas, broad beans, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, and digging those succulent early potatoes. Oh my aching back! Kate said she had never realised that strawberries could have so much flavour and Kay was typically on the mark when she said that there is a depth of flavour which is absent from those bought from the shops. This is true of all the allotment fare. The legumes are great steamed for a few minutes, if they actually reach the pan. People say they don’t like Broad Beans, but that’s because they have had commercial ones that were allowed to grow too large. Pick them small, twice or thrice the size of a pea, and they melt in the mouth. A great delicacy. I am still picking and planting radishes, spring onions and lettuces. This year I’ve had trouble with lettuce seedlings being eaten as they pop through so I have planted them in small pots in the conservatory before transplanting them. Strawberry runners and Slugs Search I am removing strawberry "runners" and checking carefully under the plants for slugs if any have been attacked. So far as a result of the dry weather and my vigilance I have only lost two or three. As soon as I see damage I search for the culprit until it is found and destroyed. Of course I cleared the adjoining area when the fruit began to ripen.. Also, the little white ones need to be extracted from between the lettuce leaves. They don’t have big appetites, but they do render the leaves unusable unless you like them ‘holier than thou’. As with the strawberries, the bigger ones tend to locate themselves at soil level under the plant. Thanks Shallot My shallots are nearly ready, in fact we have used some whose roots became detached when I attempted to clear the soil away from the bulbs. (This needs to be done when the soil is dry, after a few days of hot weather). They are so tasty when roasted. Many sauces use them, like the classic Beurre Blanc which goes so well with fish and they are essential for the lip smacking Coq au Vin. They also taste great when pickled, if you have enough to spare. I cheat, and reuse the liquid from the malt vinegar based commercial ones. I keep promising myself that I must develop my own version. Concurbits The courgettes and the cucumbers will be ready soon, as flowers that are beginning to form. They always grow too big when you’re not looking so the only way to outsmart them is to pick them rather too small. They certainly are big on flavour, enhancing a salad if chopped in raw and making a great pasta meal with home made pesto sauce. I’ll ask Basil and Doyle to give us the recipe next month when there’s always a glut. I pick the cucumbers small too. I’ll give the courgettes and cucumbers an occasional feed with diluted nettle juice, together with the corn and french beans. Nettle Juice is made by letting nettles grow where they are doing no harm, pulling them out when large enough and covering with water in a bucket. Two weeks later after a few stirs now and again it is very beneficial unless applied neat, in which case it is lethal. Carrots The carrots should be ready soon, I’ll feel around the tops to estimate the size and pull when they are reasonable.It doesn't matter if some are small at this stage for there are plenty and they need to be thinned out a bit. Leeks in a bucket I’m always late with leeks. I start them off in pots although as they are leeks they would probably go better in a bucket. I transplant them into the space freed up by the digging of the early potatoes. So I’ll be transplanting them this month. I find this is not too much of a disadvantage because vegetables are seasonal, and I tend to eat the leeks when most other vegetables are finished. My later transplanting means they don’t grow too large, I prefer them to be smaller as I think they are tastier. When I transplant the leeks I dib 6” (15cm) deep holes 8” (20cm) apart using a piece of tree branch I keep for the purpose. Before dropping the plants into the hole I use my thumb nail to trim the roots to 2-3” (5-8cm) and, if the longest leaf is very long I trim this back to the length of the next longest. Finally I carefully fill the hole with water, and as with all transplants, keep filling until the water does not clear quickly. One time I thought I’d give them a boost by using nettle juice, and this was before I realised that it needs to be greatly diluted. Nettle juice absolutely stinks. The following day the newly transplanted leek bed looked like World War III. Soil all over the place, with bits of leek plants sticking out here and there: leaves, roots and even bits I didn’t recognise. I stood there aghast. Summary of Planting in June Time Plant Deep Apart Rows Points to note Early Corn plant 45cm 45cm plant out in blocks don’t mix types Early Courgettes plant 60cm 60cm put with the corn the leaves help retain moisture Early Cucumber plant 60cm 60cm put with the corn the leaves help retain moisture Early herbs scatter in plant pot repot into small 6cm pots plant out when big enough basil is often more comfortable on the window ledge Mid Leeks 15cm 15-20cm 15-20cm transplant from pot when early potatoes lifted dib 15cm hole and puddle in Mid Cabbage plant 30-45cm 30cm transplant from pots when 5 or 6 leaves Mid Calabrese plant 15cm 30cm transplant from pots when 5 or 6 leaves Mid Sprouts plant 60cm 45cm transplant from pots when 15cm tall

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