In the Garden with GiantVeg

More Jobs for July in the garden

Make sure you keep checking crops such as runner beans for aphids (blackfly)  Rub these off or use a horticultural soap to help to control them. 

The shallots that were planted out earlier in the year, are being lifted up and will provide some jars of pickled onions.  We’ll save a few as stock for next year too.

The onion sets have grown and we have bent over the necks of the plants.  This helps with the bulb formation as well as helping to prevent water going into the neck of the onion.  This will help the onions to store over the Winter months. We’ll lift these up in early August.

We recently harvested a number of broccoli spears and cabbages.  

It’s really important to continue to cover brassicas with fine netting to prevent cabbage white butterflies from laying their eggs on the leaves.  If you do have time, search the leaves for tiny yellow eggs as these will soon hatch into caterpillars and munch through your hard work. 

This year we also grew a few Giant broad beans.  Some will be saved for seed for next season.  After harvesting the pods, we leave the roots in the soil to release nitrogen as they decompose.

We’ve harvested a number of beetroot that were sown earlier in the year.  You can’t beat the earthy taste from this superfood.  Beetroot can still be planted now.  Get a row in the ground or sow a few seeds in a container for some autumnal harvests and healthy nutritious leaves for salads. 

Our strawberries have provided a great harvest and have been turned into jams, some have been frozen and the majority nibbled by the family.  At this time of year, you will see strawberry runners appearing.  Simply nip them off the plant and either put into a pot to root new plants or extend your bed and have even more fruits in the coming years. You could even give some away to the neighbours.

On the subject of fruit, we have managed to pollinate watermelons this year and will hopefully be able to provide an update on this in the August edition as well as the various types of peppers that we are growing.  It’s an amazing time of the year watching the fruits grow right through to harvest.

Now is the ideal time to sow small rows of fast-maturing salad leaves, including radishes for a continual harvest up until the last frosts.  The seasons are getting longer so we might still be harvesting in November.

Where we have dug out the shallots, we will sow a last batch of peas and dwarf beans. They’ll need to be well watered but should provide a healthy harvest in the Autumn.

Mowing the Lawn

Away from the vegetable garden there has been essential summer maintenance of borders and weekly cutting of the lawns.  For this we have used Stiga’s new Combi 748 SQ AE cordless lawn mower.  It is an incredible piece of engineering.  The heavy duty 1.5kW motor is driven by two 48V 4Ah boosting batteries.  The machine is powerful, cuts through the lawns with ease and in terms of runtime, we have achieved over 45 minutes on one charge.  With the speed that this machine can travel, you will be able to cover over 950sqm in 45 minutes on a single charge. The grass collector box has a capacity of 60 litres and has meant far fewer trips to the compost bin.  It really is an impressive machine.

This machine features six speeds and a versatile and practical 4-in-1 cutting system. Thanks to the side-discharge on the mower, we now regularly mulch in the summer and will aim to collect in the autumn.  This mower is fantastic for all-year-round use and is definitely one for the list if you are interested in battery-powered machines. 

Regular mowing is the key to a great lawn, mowing once a week is the best way to keep a perfectly manicured lawn.  When the weather is dry, raise the mowing height (to the highest if necessary) to conserve moisture. In dry times you can also mow with the box off to recycle the clippings.

Finally, even if it's dry keep a reasonably regular mowing pattern (at least every 10 to 14 days).

Strimming

We have also used the battery-operated STIGA SBC 700 AE battery strimmer and brushcutter.  This is an excellent piece of engineering and relies on one battery to power up to 60 minutes of strimming,  Plenty of time for the average garden

Plenty of time for the average garden.  This is Driven by a 48V 4Ah grass trimmer battery which will cut through thick grass with ease.  Above are a few pictures of the machine and some of the work that it has achieved.

Hedge and Shrub Maintenance

We have a number of box hedges and shrubs in the garden and the STIGA Multi-tool SGM 102AE has made light work of the trimming. It’s a versatile machine that is battery-operated and is perfect for maintaining your bushes.  The tool is really easy to use and is powered by a 10.8 V battery with 2.5 Ah capacity.  It’s definitely one that has brought my son out into the garden.  Boys and their toys!  

Shrubs that flower in the summer, bloom on growth from the current growing season. You can prune these bushes after flowering to improve their shape.  

In August, we’ll provide an update on maintaining our high laurel hedge and one of the Stiga Tools that is helping us to reach up to the top. 

For even more tips you can visit our refreshed website www.giantveg.co.uk or even join our Facebook Group – Giant Vegetable Community 

And Instagram page @GiantVeg for all the latest Giant Veg action.

You can also follow our friends in Africa on facebook @africaframersclub  for some inspirational fruit and vegetable growing all over Africa.

Pic of Noah and his veg – credit image – Noah @afarmerz 

Images credit @GiantVeg