Picking begins

The plot in July

The reward for the spring's work. Pick little and often, and fill every gap as it appears.

Sow indoors

Nothing to sow under cover this month.

Sow outdoors

French beans
Turnips
Radishes
Carrots
Beetroot
Spring onions
Lettuces
Chard
Parsley

Plant

Cabbages
Kale
Calabrese
Purple sprouting
Leeks

Jobs on the plot

Pick every few days. Beans, courgettes and peas stop producing if you let them get big.
Watch for blight. In warm, wet spells check potatoes and tomatoes for brown patches and act at once.
Sow for autumn and winter. Chard, spring cabbage, turnips, and the last carrots and beetroot.
Feed tomatoes and courgettes. A high-potash feed every week.
Dry onions and garlic. Lift them when the leaves fall over and dry them in the sun.
Summer prune fruit. Cut back the new growth on gooseberries and trained apples.

Times are for an average year in the English Midlands. Go two weeks earlier in the mild south, and two to three weeks later in the north and in Scotland.