July Gardening
Leeks to Winter Greens
Leeks - to be planted out; and on dry soils, in trenches prepared as
for Celery.
Parsley - to be sown for winter use. It is a most important matter, even
in the smallest garden, to have a constant supply.
Peas - Only quick-growing early varieties should be sown now.
Potatoes - Where there is a good crop of an early variety it should be
lifted without waiting for the shaws to die down. The tender skins will suffer damage if
the work is done roughly, but will soon harden, and the stock will ripen in the store as
perfectly as in the ground. It needs some amount of courage to lift Potatoes while the
tops are still green and vigorous, and it should not be done until the roots are fully
grown and beginning to ripen. Quick-growing sorts may be planted to dig as new Potatoes
later in the year.
Radish - Sow the large-growing kinds for winter use.
Spinach - Sow the Prickly-seeded to stand the winter, selecting for the
seed-bed ground lying high and dry that has been at least twice dug over and has had no
recent manure. The twice digging is to promote the destruction of the 'Spinach Moth' grub,
which the robins and thrushes will devour when exposed by digging. These grubs make an end
of many a good breadth of Winter Spinach every year, and are the more to be feared by the
careless cultivator.
Turnips - to be sown in quantity in the early part of the month; thin
advancing crops, and keep the hoe in action amongst them.
Winter Greens - of all kinds to be planted out freely in the best ground
at command, after a good digging, and to be aided with water for a week or so should the
weather be dry.
Source: The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots, 16th Edition
1921, Sutton and Sons