Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
What to sow
Broccoli (sprouting), cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, coriander, courgettes,
cucumbers, daikon, fennel, kohlrabi, lettuce, melon and watermelon, radishes,
rocket, spinach, spring onions, sweetcorn.
What to harvest
Broad beans, broccoli (sprouting), cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, coriander,
kohlrabi, lettuce, onions, pak choi, peas, radishes, rocket, spinach, spring
onions, strawberries, turnips.
June
By now the garden outside will be getting busy, and growth in the tunnel is near-
ing its peak. Daily attention and watering is vital, and unless you are gardening
on heavy soil this may be necessary twice a day in hot weather: once in the morn-
ing and once again as things begin to cool down, but early enough for the plants
to dry, as plants that stay wet overnight are more susceptible to moulds and slug
attack. Pay particular attention to plants with shallow root systems, which are
most vulnerable to surface drying. Damping down (watering the paths and staging
to increase humidity) is not usually necessary, provided that the plants them-
selves are well watered.
What to sow
Cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, coriander, daikon, fennel, kohlrabi, lettuce, pak
choi, radishes, rocket, spring onions.
What to harvest
Aubergines, broad beans, broccoli (sprouting), cabbage, carrots, cauliflower,
celery, chard, coriander, courgettes, cucumbers, dwarf French and French
beans, garlic and elephant garlic, kohlrabi, lettuce, onions, pak choi, radishes,
rocket, spinach, spring onions, strawberries, tomatoes (late in the month).
July
This is the month in which you should not only plan your winter, spring and
hungry-gap plants but also start sowing the first few seeds. It's easy to be lulled
into thinking that there's plenty of time - after all, summer is at its peak. It's
warm, the days are long and the garden is a lovely place to just sit around enjoying
the view. Nevertheless, your staging should start filling up again now as you
raise your seedlings for overwintering plants. Seed trays and modules dry out
extremely quickly in summer, and apart from watering them frequently, all you
can do to alleviate this is cover them with a propagator lid and offer them some
shade. Alternatively, start them indoors, where they may be easier to care for
until they're big enough to go outside.
