Ah July. When all the hard work you did months ago comes to fruition and your garden resembles the fruit and veg stall at Borough Market except the apples aren’t £3.00 each, purple and being grown by someone called India, who has just started her own little craft cider business with a Victorian apple-press that belonged to her Grandpapa selling to exclusive bars in Hackney.
However… What to do? Well,I follow the wisdom of the ancient prophet Mungo Jerry. Enjoy the summer while you can, have a drink, have a drive (not together, this isn’t the seventies) be happy and if , as it so often does, it rains. Hooray. It’s good for the lawn.
There are lots of important jobs to do this month. I know Holly mentioned her pond and its unwelcome green army of algae last week so we won’t go near that, but you might want to look at your water levels, we have had a Lot’o’Hot recently. Remember, if you have fish in your pond you can’t use tap-water due to the fact that fish and chlorine don’t mix well!
In the flower garden, keep deadheading your flowering plants so they re-flower and the garden continues to look good.
If you have soft fruit and berries fruit growing, you should, and probably are already, be picking your strawberries, red and black currants and so on. Apparently you get the best taste from your soft fruit if you pick it and eat it on a warmish dry day.
If you have cherry trees – lucky you! I love cherries but I don’t have a good tree right now. However, if you have well established cherry trees then they are still in their growing season so now is a decent time to prune.
Any new plants, and plants in pots or tubs can be watered and may well need some, despite the recent rain. Oh and do remember when you are watering plants in the ground that aimlessly pointing a hose or can at a plant will not do much. You need to soak the ground around the plant so the earth softens and the roots can stretch out. Do be as economical as you can be though, and remember not to over-water
Do pick your courgettes before they do their magic trick of turning into marrows… sometimes it seems to happen in the blink of an eye; one minute… ooh, lovely courgettes I turn to pick up my hat, turn back and they have trebled in size. Of course, you may love marrows but courgettes are infinitely more tasty. Discuss?
If the weather stays dry, it’s a good time to paint the shed, fence, decking, anything you fancy really.
Anyway. That’s all from me this week. I’m a bit busy with the allotment at the moment, there is so much yet to plant I’m going to be getting in some carrots, spinach and beetroot probably some pak choi (I love it) and more peas and lettuce.
Then I’m going to do what I always do, harvest some peas, french beans and mangetout, take them down to the Dog and Trumpet and swap them for a couple of pints of Thrifty Midget’s Afterburn Ale… ah the barter system is still alive and well. Enjoy your garden. Drew Hardy.