Tales from the plot August
August is the month when we start to notice the gradually shortening days. It can also be a humid month, creating ideal conditions for powdery and downy mildew to strike
Courgettes, sweet peas, lettuce and squash are all very susceptible to mildew, along with a number of other crops and fruit trees. If you mix one part milk with two to three parts water and spray liberally, while the science behind this solution isn’t fully understood, I’m told it works rather well, especially on courgettes, melons and cucumbers. It is believed that naturally-occurring compounds in the milk not only combat the disease, but also boost the plant’s immune system. We will see.
Now is the time to tidy up your strawberry bed and replace any plants that are more than three years old with fresh ones; also remove dead leaves to improve airflow around them.
There are still quite a few things you should be sowing in August – spring cabbage and chinese cabbage which can be grown as late crops, as well as hardy lettuce. Although we think of lettuce as a summer crop, it is a surprisingly hardy plant and under a cloche or in the greenhouse can easily be available for a Boxing Day salad rather than some tasteless import from sunnier climes.
Sow spring onions like White Lisbon which are winter hardy and will grow, albeit slowly, to add zing to that salad along with some fast growing radishes.
Your runner beans will be at the top of the canes now so pinch out their growing tip to encourage bushier growth below, pick all runner, climbing and dwarf beans regularly except for the haricot varieties such as borlotti where we want the bean rather than pod for table.
Stop tomato plants now to encourage fruit to swell and ripen, stopping is the process of cutting off the growing tip so the plant’s energy is not diverted into foliage from fruit. Keep your tomato side shoots in check, you want tomatoes not masses of foliage, ensure they are watered regularly, drying out prevents the plant from taking up sufficient calcium and the deficit causes blossom end rot.
There’s a bountiful harvest to enjoy with a vast range of crops now in season, it’s a real joy to pick sun-warmed produce straight from your plot, giving an unrivalled feeling of satisfaction after months of sweat and toil. Happy growing!
Regards Richard Thorpe
15b Syston Allotments