July growing with Rachel
The soggy start to spring brought a challenging beginning to the growing season, but there have still been plenty of successes with my free edible Gardeners’ World Magazine seeds. We’ve harvested our first crops of rocket and basil and last month’s parsley seeds have now popped up. The beetroot seedlings are progressing well thanks to some sunshine and June’s carrots should emerge any day now. The Sun Baby tomato plants are strong and bursting with flowers, and I’m eagerly awaiting the first fruits.
Now it’s all about succession sowing – there’s still time to sow crops of carrots, basil, parsley, rocket and beetroot and I’ll be sharing my top tips below, so what are you waiting for!
- Get growing advice now, for all 12 packs of free seeds.
- Check out flower grower Cel Robertson’s top tips for growing your free foxglove seeds
Top tips
Basil
As your plants grow, pinch out the central stem to encourage bushy growth. Leaves are best picked as and when you plan to use them in your cooking, but sprigs will happily stand in a container of water for a few days – just be sure to change the water daily.
Tomatoes
‘Sun Baby’ is grown as a cordon tomato, so ensure you are continuing to pinch out sideshoots throughout the growing season. Make sure you are watering regularly to prevent fruit splitting or blossom end rot – especially if you’re growing in containers like me. And don’t forget to feed regularly with a high potassium fertiliser once the first fruits set.
Beetroot
Like many gardeners, it’s been quite the year for slugs in our allotment and I’ve found my beetroot seedlings particulalry vulnerable. One thing that’s worked well is placing a plank of wood next to my beds. In the afternoon sunshine the slugs have congregated there, meaning they can easily be scooped up and relocated to the compost bin.
Rocket
If your salad rocket has started flowering in the warmer weather, don’t despair – the flowers are edible too and make a lovely addition to summer salads, plus they’re attractive to pollinators. Alternatively, pinch out any buds as they appear to prolong cropping.
Parsley
Once established, parsley is fairly low maintenance, so if you’re cropping more than you can use, why not collect a supply for the freezer? I like to chop the leaves finely and add to an ice-cube tray with a little water, so they can be added straight to sauces when cooking.
As the temperatures finally start to go up, I’m a firm believer that mulching is the best thing you can do in a vegetable garden – even more so if you’re growing in containers. Mulching around plants will not only suppress weeds but, importantly, help to keep in moisture.
I’ve absolutely loved sharing my vegetable growing adventures with you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed following along too! Share with us how your free seeds are coming along by emailing: letters@gardenersworld.com or use #GWFreeSeeds on social media and we’ll share our favourites.
