JulyAbundance begins, and winter is sown
July is the month of courgettes you can no longer keep up with, the first cucumbers, beans to pick every other day, and the first tomatoes turning red. Paradoxically, it is also the month when you sow for winter: lamb’s lettuce, winter radishes, turnips, kale, autumn spinach. Water methodically, mulch relentlessly, and harvest often: that is what keeps the plants producing.
Tips of the month
- Harvest courgettes, beans, cucumbers, the first tomatoes, garlic and onions.
- Sow lamb’s lettuce, black radish, turnips, spinach, kale, chicory and fennel.
- Transplant winter leeks and the last brassicas.
- Water generously but less often, early in the morning or in the evening.
- Lift garlic and onions when the foliage yellows, and leave them to dry.
- Pinch out tomato side shoots and remove diseased lower leaves.
- Pick raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and blueberries as they ripen.
In the vegetable garden and orchard
What to do in july
Sow under cover
Nothing to sow under cover.
Sowing in the ground
Harvesting
On the plate
Eating in july
July overflows: raw grated courgette, tian, warm green bean salad, cucumber with cream and dill, the first tomatoes with salt. The soft fruit goes into jams and clafoutis, and surplus courgettes end up as chilled soup.
Living well
A turn around the vegetable garden in the cool of the day, watering can in hand, is the best moment of a summer’s day. You note what is ripening, pick for the evening, and the meal invents itself from whatever you are holding.