Shirley Lanigan writes that now is the time to really get busy in the vegetable garden and you will soon see the fruits of your labours… literally!
Ornamental gardens are generally at their best at this time of year. This means that for a few weeks at least, it is possible to sit back and just enjoy the fruits of your work. The productive garden is getting ready to come into its own too. But unlike an established herbaceous or mixed border, even the most mature vegetable garden calls for work at this time of year:
Growing vegetables largely involves annuals – plants that are sown and complete their life cycle in one year. So the gardener is on the go fairly constantly. You do not just plant vegetable seeds and forget about them. A small amount of upkeep is required on all vegetables and a slightly larger amount is needed for some. The rewards are many times out of proportion to these efforts.
h4. Earthed up
Potatoes, planted several weeks ago, should have been earthed up by now. If this has not been done, move quickly and get earthing up. This involves piling on a load of compost, earth, straw or even grass clippings over the young plants, when their shoots reach about 20 cm. You completely cover at least the bottom fifty per cent of the plant. The reason for doing this is that a good percentage of potato tubers grow close to the top of the soil.
Any sunlight hitting the potatoes near the surface discolours them, turning them green and rendering them poisonous. Layering on a thick blanket of compost, before the plants get too big protects the potatoes from light damage and they continue growing.
It also benefits the crop by suppressing weed growth. Quite obviously, weeds vie with potatoes for nutrients and it makes sense to deal with them.
Earthing up also increases the number of potatoes each plant produces and frankly you will never feel you have enough of your own home grown potatoes, so anything that increases the yield is welcome.
Lastly, manure, farmyard or home-made compost all help condition and improve the soil structure for future crops.
The potatoes will be ready to dig and eat by the end of the month and on into July in the case of earlies. Once they have flowered, dig away.
Some impatient types who want a few new baby spuds in advance of the proper crop of earlies do what is known as ‘grabbling’.
This is digging gently around the outside of the plant and teasing out some small outer tubers without digging up the whole plant which continues to fatten up the rest of the tubers. In July and August second earlies can be dug up.
Main crop spuds come in after that when their leaves have died down. Check the label on the packet the seed potatoes came in if you are unsure as to what you planted.
h4. Fascinating to watch
Every two weeks plant another short row of carrots, spinach, beets, lettuces of all types, scallions and peas. It is fascinating to watch how fast one batch will germinate when the previous batches might have come up slowly and patchily.
A week’s weather — good or bad — can have an enormous effect on how a batch of vegetables progresses. Keep that in mind at all times and remember that, with vegetables, don’t take success and failure too personally. Sometimes it seems as though you can do no wrong. Everything comes up fabulously, prolifically and to order. Other years, it seems as though God has updated the seven plagues of Egypt and sent them to your garden to torment you.
The first time I started growing vegetables, I tried basil. It was started off in trays indoors, and then transferred to the garden in June.
Throughout the Summer we were harvesting great sheaves of basil leaves, enough to make several good batches of pesto as well as sending all visitors away with armfuls of leaves. I thought I was brilliant.
In fact, it was only the weather that was brilliant.
I tried the same act for several subsequent years only to be met with utter failure and bafflement. I gave up trying to grow basil outside in Kilkenny and am convinced that the non-gardening acquaintance who lives close by — and claims to do so successfully — is a terrible liar. She even claimed to get a good result last year. Maybe she thinks watercress is basil…
For me these days the basil grows in pots that move in and out of the house — depending on the weather — but I can only dream of growing it in quantities large enough to make pesto. With vegetables, success can be as much to do with weather and luck as with skill.
h4. Trial and error
But you can work to enhance that luck. When space allows, sowing some of those lettuces, spinach seeds and carrots in different places around the garden is a good policy. Slug and pest attack will invariably be different in different parts of the garden. The micro-climate of one corner may prove far more amenable to growing salad crops than another. Trial and error on your own patch of land will teach you what to grow, and where, in a way no book can.
By now we should be able to plant out many of the tender vegetables that were started off indoors a few weeks ago. French and runner beans, courgettes, squashes and pumpkins will take up their outdoor homes in the garden over the next week or two – assuming the temperatures are kind. Err on the side of caution, and if the temperatures are not warm enough at ‘the correct time’ — according to the books — wait a bit. French beans are particularly prone to sulking in the wind and cold.
Outdoor tomatoes can also go out. But bear in mind that they really want a sunny sheltered spot. Think of the tomatoes enjoyed on holidays. They crave heat and sun on order to ripen and develop taste. Tomatoes take a bit of care but they are worth the fuss.
h4. Pick sturdy plants
You might be putting out the plants you grew yourself or those bought in the garden centre over the past few weeks. But even if you did grow your own, adding in a few different varieties picked up in the shops will add to the variety when it comes to eating the results at the end of the Summer. If buying plants in, pick sturdy plants that are not too elongated and lanky.
Some ‘Tumbling Tom’ tomatoes will grow very well in a good substantial-sized hanging basket. Insert a few little clumps of chives or – pray for it – basil plants, and the result could be a rather interesting looking and more useful alternative to those damned petunias. Make sure to give them good rich compost. Tomatoes need feeding. Apart from trailing varieties, there are also countless bush and standard or tall varieties.
If growing in grow bags, two plants per bag is the best although you can fit three.
Insert supports before the plants. Use tall strong bamboo canes. Be generous and do not use flimsy supports. These will be heavy plants. There are also good quality metal spiral supports available in the DIY stores.
The plants should be deep enough in the compost so that the bottom leaves are level with the top of the soil.
Tie in the main stem to the support using a slightly loose figure-of-eight knot that allows the stem thicken up. For really productive plants remove excess side shoots as they grow.
h4. Stop growing
Late in July or early in August, prepare to stop the plant growing on endlessly by pinching out the top few leaves. The plant should have developed between two and four trusses of flowers/developing fruits by then and if the top growth has been stopped the plant will put all its energy into their development.
There is no need to water too often until the plant shows flowers. When the flowers do appear, a heavy watering once a week should be sufficient. Do not let the soil dry completely, but water-logging it will lead to trouble and tomatoes that split and taste watery.
Use an organic tomato feed about every two weeks if using grow bags or if the soil you have planted them into is not very fertile.
When the fruits ripen pick them. If the late summer weather is unpromising and ripening looks as though it might not happen, dig up the plants and hang them in a bright dry spot – in a greenhouse or porch or something similar. The ripening will then continue.
A truss of green tomatoes put in a brown bag with a banana will ripen as the banana releases gas but they will not taste as good as those that ripen on the plant.
Just be sure to dig the plants before any early frost hits, as frost and tomatoes equal mush.
h4. Free fruit
If you forget, and leave the plants and their green fruits to their own devices outside as Autumn comes in, you might still meet with success. Some varieties will continue to ripen by themselves, particularly the cherry tomatoes. It will be like free fruit.
About Gary Culliton
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