Shirley Lanigan writes that even though June might be the best month for harvesting in the vegetable garden, there is other work to be done to ensure that you have vegetables into the autumn and winter.
By the time the end of June comes around, it is all too easy to sit back and be pleased with the results of work put in earlier in the year in the vegetable garden. Right now, it is nearly all happening on the harvest front and in a few weeks, it will be absolutely running at full tilt.
Lettuces of every description are coming to maturity. Early potatoes are being dug up and carried like precious little golden globes to the kitchen, where they will be greeted by an enthusiastic chef. There could also be beetroot, scallions, early carrots and summer cabbage to eat. For those organised few who remembered to sow broad beans back in November, the bean pods are also ready to pick now.
h4. Asparagus
Meanwhile, for the really diligent gardener who was willing to put in long-term work over the past three years, there has been asparagus to cut over the past few weeks. Growing asparagus with success can bring on feelings of smug self-congratulation beyond all.
While on the other side of the fence, it can draw on wells of untold jealousy in those who have to resort to buying their asparagus spears in the supermarket with the ordinary people.
In any case, while happily dealing with the abundance of early summer crops, it is possible to forget that there are lots of things that can be done to extend the harvesting season right up to winter. The mistake of reveling in early success is one often made by novice vegetable growers. The old hands know better.
They are already aiming toward the crops that will bring them comfortably up to and beyond Christmas – even as far as next spring in the case of something like purple sprouting broccoli. That particular brassica almost rivals asparagus in the desirability stakes. It costs a fortune for a few spears in the supermarket and they never taste as good as the homegrown version.
h4. Finding space
But even with the best will to continue sowing and planting, given the great surges of growth that take place in May and June, it can be hard to find space to accommodate new sowings in the ground at this time.
Another point to remember is that the very enthusiasm of that general growth can swamp a newly set seed-bed.
Again, the novice can find that they sow seeds, go away for a short holiday and come home to find the seedlings have been out-competed by faster growing, more numerous weeds and are almost all lost.
h4. No competitors
A way to deal with both of these problems is to sow the seeds in trays or modules. Unlike the ground, where there are more weed seeds in every square metre than there are stars in heaven, seed compost is sterile. So the vegetable seed sown in it has no competitors.
In addition, if you have to go away for a few days, you can get a friend or family member to mind your babies until you get back. Initially using seed trays and pots also gives you more time to clear mature crops, either eating or freezing them. Then by the time the new seedlings are ready to go into the ground, space should be free to accommodate them.
While there are plenty of seeds that can be sown at this time of year, it is important not to put off sowing them. It is possible and even sometimes desirable to delay sowing some things earlier in the season. But by the end of June, we have reached the half-way point in the year. What were lengthening evenings, up until now, have just toppled over into the second half where the days will begin to shorten. So plants will have fewer hours of sun per day to germinate, grow and put out a crop. From now on, fast acting is the best policy.
Among the crops to sow now are more beetroots, to add to those planted over the past six weeks or so.
Beetroot sown now will stay in the ground right until the late autumn, when it will be fabulous roasted with carrots and potatoes for Sunday roast. At that point, it can also be stored for use over the winter.
As outlined above, beets can be sown in modules or straight into the ground. Keep the seed watered or germination will be patchy at best. If left to dry as they develop, the globes will taste woody too so keep them watered – but not water logged. Ordinary turnips or swedes can be sown too. In a few weeks, when moving the little plants into the ground, it is important to deal gently with them.
h4. Little shoots
Start by watering them. Then squeeze the sides of the modules of pots to slightly compact the root balls within. Next, gently tip the whole lot over into your hand fingers splayed between the little shoots and making sure not to damage the young leaves. Settle the root-ball gently into a pre-dug trench in the ground. Water the lot in. It is important not to disturb the roots. They will then grow on over the summer.
By the end of the month, outdoor tomatoes should be put out. The tall varieties must be well supported with tall sturdy bamboos in a well composted, sunny, sheltered spot. If space is a premium, plant them into grow-bags on a patio and they will grow nicely.
h4. Grow bags
Make a virtue of the fact that grow bags — unlike beds — are portable and place them against the sunniest, warmest wall for the tastiest tomatoes and the biggest crops. The courgettes, squashes and pumpkins written about a few weeks ago are also ready to move outside where they can spread out and really begin to grow. And they really will grow. They can be like triffids, growing even as you watch them. They obviously take up space.
But lack of growing space in the beds need not be a problem, even as you wonder what to do with the tray of fat squash plants looking for an outdoor home. I came across pumpkins growing from a very confined bed a few years ago. The bed took up only a small corner covering no more than a metre square on the edge of a large gravelled area. But the pumpkin plant was not confined. Left to its own devices, it had run riot over the sunny expanse of gravel. This both looked great and worked well because gravel soaks up heat very effectively. This suited the sun-loving pumpkins. The fruits, as they grew, were placed up off the gravel on bricks to display them and save them from rain splash.
There was very little else growing in the courtyard but it was still stylish looking as well as low maintenance, in a bachelor-pad sort of way.
h4. Late summer crops
A courgette plant or two draped out over the side of a tall free-standing planter is another smart-looking way to grow these late summer crops for maximum visual impact.
Courgettes, if not quite as bad as pumpkins, still take up a lot of space per single plant and in a small garden, a square metre is a lot of space that could be used more productively, delivering a few different crops in the place of one. Working up on a height frees up valuable ground space and the addition of height improves the look of any garden from a balcony right up to a full-scale walled vegetable garden.
h4. Perfect for sowing
Peas are still perfect for sowing. Choosing the early varieties is best policy around now. This might seem contrary to the information on the seed packets but sowing early types later in the year works as they tend to ripen in a shorter period of time than main crop varieties. And working from the start of July, you are dealing with a shorter period of time.
Once again, the seeds can be sown in pots or modules two per small module or four per 9cm pot. I find growing peas like this helps in the battle against predators too. You tend to get more plants to the size where slugs lose interest. They do not show as much enthusiasm for older coarser foliage as they do for new soft shoots and baby leaves – rather like humans.
The peas can be put out into a good fertile bed with supports in the shape of chicken wire or pea sticks when they reach 15-20cm. You should be picking peas by autumn.
h4. French beans
Sowing a new crop of French beans is also a good idea even toward the start of July. These tender plants really do hate our cold weather, which for them can mean average early-June temperatures. Late crops can catch up on earlier ones surprisingly fast if the weather is to their liking.
Finally, carrots should continue to be sown in short drills at two weekly intervals.
About Gary Culliton
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