Blight, green manure and summer seed sowing

Summer still seems reluctant to arrive but there is still enough growing time left in the summer to produce  a decent harvest. Now is the time to sow the seeds of early varieties of crops that will appreciate the cooler growing conditions and provide a harvest over the coming months.

To harvest towards during late summer and early autumn; sow beetroot, carrots endive, spinach, Florence fennel, chicory including Sugar leaf chicory, kohl rabi, turnips, lettuce (summer and winter), Oriental vegetables, radish- try mooli for a bit of fun, radicchio, spring onions, salad leaves

If you can provide some protection against an early frost try sowing greenhouse cucumbers and French beans.

For harvest next year sow the seeds of spring cabbage, carrot ‘Eskimo’ and winter lettuce.

Harvest garlic and shallots when the foliage has turned a strawy colour and take care to dry the bulbs before putting them into store. The softneck garlic will store better than the hardneck types. It is best to use the hardnecks first.

Late July is a good time to plant garlic especially if you want to produce the giant Elephant garlic. Select a warm, free draining site to prevent the cloves from rotting during the wetter months. You will have to prepare some protection if it is a particularly cold and wet winter.

Although July is the main summer month it is time to look ahead to 2017 and think about sowing the first of the green manures. They are divided into ‘lifters’ and ‘fixers’. Some green manures appreciate the warmer soil conditions at this time of the year. These include alfalfa, crimson clover, trefoil, buckwheat, phacelia. Winter tares can be sown up until the end of summer to over winter.

The roots lifters absorb unused nutrient left in the soil and store them in their leaves. When the leaves are dug back into the soil the nutrients are released to the benefit of growing crops. The fixers absorb nitrogen from the air and stores it within the plant’s root system. The nitrogen is released back into the soil. It isn’t necessary to dig the roots in.  You can remove the foliage and then plant directly into the soil.

Another important benefit of hardy green manures is they protect the soil from becoming over-wet from winter rains.

One last reminder to keep earthing up potatoes haulms to increase the crop and to provide some protection from potato blight which can attack the crop at any time from now on. The spores are washed off the leaves and enter to soil to attack the tubers. To help prevent this stop any overhead irrigation. If you know that blight has arrived in your region cut the haulms down to soil level and draw soil over the stalk stumps. It is safe to put the foliage on the compost heap but safer to recycle it through your local authority’s green scene.

Click here for more information about Potato Blight.