Lee Senior takes a look at key tasks for July to keep that fresh produce coming for the months ahead.
It is in July that the nights are beginning to draw in. But its often a month of balmy days and nights too, leading to mildew and sometimes sleepless, stuffy nights! The antidote to the that gloomy thought is that our parcels of land are still looking good; they are still producing a bounty of fresh, tasty, healthy food and that is the name of the game, be it to eat, or sell or both.
MAKE THE HOE YOUR BEST FRIEND!
Hoeing is a key task throughout the summer and it can be either relaxing or frustrating depending on the layout of your land and your planting scheme. If your plants are nicely spaced and also in rows with a decent spacing between them, then happy days, as long as your hoe is nice and sharp. This can then be a pleasurable way to spend an hour or two in sunny conditions. The opposite can be true if you are the owner of a blunt hoe and have a mishmash of planting.
This is something to consider at planting out time in spring next year. Of course not everybody likes hoeing and in smaller, deeper raised beds it can be just as easy to hand weed or use a hand tool. Mildew often strikes in August due to the weather conditions. The cucurbit clan namely, courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkins and squash are likely candidates. In the flower garden, Aster (Michaelmas Daisies) are also very prone, among others. There are others too of course and this is something to keep an eye out for in late summer.
KEEP THOSE SECATEURS HANDY
There are a number of pruning tasks in July If you are a fan of plums like me, then towards and in August, this is the time of year to do some light pruning on your plum tree if required. Plums shouldn’t be pruned in winter as it encourages the destructive ‘silver leaf’ disease. Spur-fruiting apple trees can also be lightly pruned at this time of year.
Meanwhile if you grow summer fruiting raspberries now is the time to tackle these, once fruiting has finished. The technique is simple, all that needs to be done is to cut the canes hard back down to ground level. Raspberries fruit on canes that are one year old (wood from the previous year). However, with autumn-fruiting varieties this doesn’t apply. They fruit on the current year’s canes. Consequently, they should be pruned in winter after cropping.
RUNNER BEANS – A LATE SUMMER STALWART
Runner beans are one of the joys of the second half of summer. They are fast growing, and can reach dizzy heights of up to 8ft (2.5m).This is a seriously fast growing plant that is very rewarding to grow. The flavour of the young succulent, stringless beans is underrated especially when they are eaten within a few hours of harvesting.The main task with runner beans is to keep a careful eye on moisture levels. The plants are fairly deep-rooted and they crave sustained moisture at the roots. During persistent hot, dry weather the setting of the flowers can be a problem. Ensure the beans are given a regular thorough soaking to ensure good pollination and continuity of cropping. Over-watering them is not easy! Regular picking of the beans is the key and the more you pick the more you get. The beans can crop until the end of September or early October in good years. Dwarf varieties are available these days for smaller gardens and containers.
This article extract was taken from the July 2025 edition of The Country Smallholder. To read the article in full, you can buy the issue here.
