Garden Share Collective - July 2014

Well, if May was a planting month, June was certainly a harvesting month. It was the month in which I got my first big harvests of the year. Stars of the show this time were the potatoes. The quality of the tubers this year is amazingly good, which I put down to the fact that the potato plants have been grown in composted stable manure. Not a sign of Scab, and hardly a blemish of any sort.

My favourite is "Charlotte", a very reliable and prolific Second Early, with waxy oval tubers. An excellent salad potato.

In the Good Looks department, "Red Duke of York" probably wins:

But "Blue Kestrel" is also a strong contender.

Early in the month I had a few "Purple Top Milan" Turnips - tasty, but far too few!

The Lettuces this year have been amazing. Some of them scored very well in terms of size, like this "Green Oak Leaf" one:

Whereas others were more notable for their quality - such as this "Devin":

During the month I had the first of my Carrots. Just a few though; they were ones that were in danger of bolting. I'm leaving most of them to mature further before harvesting them.

The Broad Beans were all harvested within the month. I had a good crop this year, and we particularly liked the variety "Stereo" (on the right, below), which produces small but very tender and tasty beans.

In the UK everyone associates June (and the Wimbledon tennis tournament) with Strawberries!

I don't have much space to devote to Strawberries (I grow them in black plastic crates), so I'm never going to have a big harvest, but what they lack in quantity they make up for in terms of quality.

The biggest news this month from my garden is unfortunately not good. As I'm sure many readers are already aware, I have had a major issue with weedkiller-contaminated compost which has caused all sorts of deformities to occur in many of my plants, particularly the beans, chillies and tomatoes.

Tomato plant deformed by weedkiller contamination in compost

Chilli plant deformed by weedkiller-contaminated compost

This issue has definitely been a big setback, but it's not a disaster, and I expect to get at least a small crop from even the worst-affected plants. We had had high hopes of a bumper harvest of tomatoes (dreaming of such a glut that the freezer would be stuffed full of tomato sauce...), but sadly that is not going to happen. Nevertheless, these don't look too bad, do they?

There's lots of promise elsewhere too. The Runner Beans have reached the tops of their canes, and have produced loads of flowers. No pods yet, but I'm fairly sure that this time next month I'll be reporting that I have harvested a decent quantity.

You can also see in that photo above that I have stopped harvesting Asparagus, and am now leaving it to develop fern so that it builds up strength for next year.

The Brussels Sprouts are continuing to develop nicely, protected by their net from the Cabbage White butterflies.

This is the "Winter Veg" bed, with Swedes (left), Leeks (centre), and Cabbages (right). There's a row of Beetroot visible in the nearer bed too.

This is a part of the "Nursery", where I have lots of little Lettuces, Endives, Chicories etc coming on for successional planting when space becomes available. Growing space doesn't stay idle for very long in my garden during the Summer-time!

Harvested in June:
Potatoes
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Strawberries
Turnips
Spring Onions
Asparagus
Lots of herbs

Planted in June:
Lettuces
Endives
Radicchio
Swede Turnips

Sown in June:
Lettuce
Endives
Radicchio
Mesclun

This is my monthly entry for The Garden Share Collective.

See you here next month!