Late July Tour of our 100% Organic Kitchen Garden (Only Feed is Compost), by Huw Richards

Credits: image taken from Huw Richards’s vlog

The garden produces a lot around midsummer. Let’s look at what Huw has to share.

Thanks to Huw Richards for sharing his wisdom and knowledge! I wrote the following notes watching the video published on Huw Richards’s channel.

You can watch it using this YouTube link.

Onions

Growing onions from seed is pretty hard.

Huw transplanted the seedlings early April, two weeks after sowing.

Brassicaceae

In the frond, we have the Brussels sprouts and in the back kale and other long-term varieties. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

You should mix long-term and short-term varieties so you can free up space in your beds when you can remove the short-term ones.

Dedicate a bed for long-term varieties.

Why does Huw not net the Brassicaceae?

He finds it ugly.

But, if you want to protect the plants from the pest, Huw has experienced the case where a bird will still get under the mesh and get stuck…

If you go away for some time, then nobody will check up daily on the net.

Huw checks every 2 to 3 days the plants for cabbage white caterpillars.

Squash

Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

They need warm weather and a long period of temperatures around 15 °C won’t help them.

Beans

These are emperor runner beans. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

If you’re in a climate like the UK, you can have rust on the leaves and for small plants, it can become a problem for their growth.

Rust is a disease that you will find on the leaves when the weather is damped. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

Broad beans

Those broad beans look tired. One last harvest and they go on the compost bin. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

They don’t like the damp and cool weather. Rust will infect the plants in such weather.

Saving seeds

Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

It’s a important job to become self-sufficient to grow your own crops.

In July, you can get leak and spinach seeds.

Huw doesn’t worry about cross-pollination. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

Beetroot

Huw transplants them around that time of the summer.

Leaks

Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

Huw transplants them around that time of the summer.

They usually replace the cabbage like kale.

Wildlife and pollinators

If it happens that you have a nest of bumble bees, preserve it!

It’s so beneficial to the garden.

A bumble bee’s nest is usually found in the ground. So watch out before you tramp it…

Swiss chard

Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

They need watering otherwise they will bolt after 3 to 4 weeks of dry weather.

What does bolting mean in vegetables?

Bolting is the term applied to vegetable crops when they prematurely run to seed, usually making them unusable. A cold spell or changes in day length initiates this behavior.

Source: www.rhs.org.uk

You can still use the leaves.

Salads

Flowers of lettuce last only a few hours before they close. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

Lettuce will bolt easily.

However, Huw talked about a variety well known in Asia that doesn’t bolt as easily. I will put the name here once I get the answer from him in the vlog.

Sweet peas

If you need ornamentals and want to eat them, grow various varieties of sweet peas for a colorful garden. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

Huw loves the fragrance of the sweet pea flowers in the early evening.

And pollinators will love the bed where they’re planted.

Polytunnel in July

At this time of the year, you will find that the jungle is on!

To protect the tomatoes, growing them under cover is a good idea. Credits: image taken from Huw Richard’s vlog

You can plant tomatoes under the polytunnel.

Personally, I grow them without any protection. This year 2022, I haven’t taken care of them and the drought this past summer was really too hard to keep up with the watering.

What else

The end of July and early August is not only the time of harvest, but also the time to perform a well-planned succession of crops to get the most of the same area.

Also, you shouldn’t worry too much about crops rotation because it will save you a lot of hassle.

It might not be true to all the gardens. You will need to find what works best for you.

I have tomatoes in the same bed for eight years.

I have planted potatoes randomly (basically, where I had space) and I have very likely planted in the same place again. This year, we even had volunteered potato plants from an area where we had some last year.