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Six Great Veggies for Sowing in July
I must confess, in my manic moving state and the attempts to get the garden sorted as a first priority, my management of vegetable crops has been slightly lacking. A combination of drought, poor soil and being overrun with work means that many of my starter crops (beans/peas/spinach) didn’t do so well (read – failed miserably). And now it’s already July.
I’ve been watching a tonne of River Cottage, and I’ve realised there are no winter veggies growing. LUCKILY it’s not too late to sow and get plants growing ready for harvests in the autumn and through the colder months of the year. What a relief! So, here’s my top six veggies for sowing in July – and they’re all things I’ve just put in myself, so we grow together!
Spring Onions
I love the bite you get from spring onions, but I’ve never grown them myself. Unlike traditional onions, these work as a salad harvest and you can pick them as needed. Things I like? No thinning required, quick to grow and perfect for successional sowing. July’s the last month to get them in, and you can harvest up to October – or longer if the frosts keep off. I’ve planted a variety called Ishikura which is supposed to have excellent flavour.
Spinach
The strong green stuff is a staple in our house, but I’ve become increasingly frustrated at the cost, and plastic packaging, when buying it at the supermarkets. Even with my poor husbandry skills at the start of the year, we still have a good crop through the spring – the plants germinated fast, grew even quicker and gave us plenty of leaves with a great taste. If you want to harvest through until October, then get some seeds in now and they’ll come up in no time.
I’m growing Spinach El Grinta. which is high yielding, slow to bolt and disease resistant. So far, so good!
Chard is a fantastic vegetable for colour and taste.
Chard
Here’s another veggie I just don’t eat enough of. And it’s a crying shame as it grows SO easily. Another fantastic thing is that varieties like ‘Bright Lights’ come in a stunning array of colours; so much so I’ve actually planted some amongst my ornamental beds.
If you want to get nice bushy plants with a good harvest, July’s the last month you can really sow it. But if you do, you’ll be picking leaves up until December. As they grow, keep snapping a few stems and leaves off here and there, being careful not to strip plants entirely. And when the weather begins to cool, covering with a cloche will help encourage continued growth.
Lambs Lettuce
Salad crops, despite what many people believe, can actually thrive in the cold. Lambs Lettuce is a wonderful salad crop that can be sown between April and August and you’ll be harvesting leaves until November. Even better, if you germinate in a greenhouse bed or deep trays, you can actually get plants to grow through the winter, providing you with a constant, fresh salad leaf.
Kale
The above are all salad greens really, so it’s about time to get onto some proper nosh. Kale is well renowned for being a winter plant; in fact, frosts are actually required to bring out the flavour – a tip I discovered from television show ‘Kew on a Plate’. I’m growing two varieties – Reflex F1 and Nero di Toscana. Both can be sown outdoors until September, so there’s plenty of time to get that winter vegetable bed prepared. It must be mentioned that the later it’s sown, the more likely it is you’ll get leaves and not mature plants. July is a little late, but with recent autumns being warm, I’m hoping I might’ve just slid in on time.
Another plus – it’s an awesome source of vitamin A and vitamin C; a perfect supplement during the cold winter months!
Kale offers baby leaves and mature plants depending when it’s sown.
Cabbage
Okay – I’m going to say outright; I may be reaching a little with this one. I’ve sown Mini Savoy Caserta F1 and Savoy January King 3; both of which are recommended to sow in June or before. However, as I mentioned above, autumn’s in the UK have been rather mild the past few years so as long as that continues, I’m hoping the few weeks’ delay won’t really be noticed in the final harvest.
If you sow immediately, the warmth will have them germinating within days and the nice thing is, you don’t have to do an acclimatising!
So, there you have it; my top six veggies for planting in July for autumn/winter harvests. I’ll keep you all updated on my progress – most likely on the Monday ‘On My Oasis’ posts. In the meantime, tell me how your garden’s growing. What are you harvesting? And what are you still sowing in hopes of continued harvests?
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