This month, if you planned and planted thoughtfully in previous months, you could be enjoying a wide range of delicious produce from your under-cover growing space. You will have great salads with lettuce and other leaves, radishes, spring onions, mange tout and peas and later in the month, you will probably also have cucumbers, courgettes and perhaps the first tomatoes. There will likely be a variety of beans, summer brassicas and perhaps even the earliest of your peppers. Make sure that you continue to sow successionally to enjoy continuing abundance and take care of soil health by adding compost, organic mulches, feeds and fertilisers to any gaps that open up.
However, as well as enjoying the summer abundance in July, you should also be continuing this month to turn your attention to what will come next. Carefully planning and planting in July can help you enjoy a year-round harvest and can prevent a 'hungry gap' next spring. It may sound odd to be thinking about winter crops in the middle of summer but in gardening, we must always be thinking ahead. You should sow winter lettuces, cabbages and other hardy, leafy vegetables in seed trays to be planted into gaps that open up over the next couple of months.
Pests and disease can strike and are more likely to become a problem if you do not get the air flow and moisture levels right. Keep your eyes open and make sure that you remove any diseased foliage to prevent the disease from spreading. Continue to encourage beneficial insects in order to keep pest numbers down. Look out for blight on your tomatoes and remove any affected foliage immediately.
This month is a great time in covered growing spaces and it can really show you the benefit of having a greenhouse or polytunnel. However, one of the main benefits of these structures is that they can lengthen your growing season. Make sure that you take full advantage of this by sowing this month for year-round yield.