By the end of this month the Cookham show is only six weeks away, so July should see your prize winning (we hope) plants really progressing.

Onions, shallots and garlic are all likely to finish growing this month. As the foliage dies back, carefully lift the bulbs and dry them out, both for storage and showing. Undamaged skins, firm flesh and a matching set are important, so take care to remove damaged outer skins so that a clean one can ripen for the show. Don’t bother tidying up the foliage for the heaviest onion class, as this is all about weight – looks don’t matter!

Some winners here perhaps?

Early in July you ought to have a large enough pumpkin plant to support the growth of a giant. Once your winner is selected, keep pinching off side shoots, tendrils, other flowers and embryonic pumpkins. All you need is the solar cells (leaves) and the main stem to keep feeding the growing fruit. It will want plenty of water and regular feeding.

Growing on strongly 6 July

You are likely to be getting your first tomatoes and peppers in July, so keep feeding with a high potassium feed to encourage more flowers and hence fruit.  Don’t forget to keep on pinching out side shoots on tomatoes to keep the plant’s energy focused on the main stem.  The fruit setting at the end of July may well be the ones that are ripening in time for the show.

With crops like beans and courgettes as they start to produce, keep picking (and eating) as this will make sure that the plant continues to set new flowers, which will produce crops at show time. Once the seeds inside the fruits start to mature, the plant slows down the production of new flowers on the grounds that reproduction has happened so its main job is done.  By the end of the month you might want to start keeping an eye out for the runner bean that will be your contender for the longest bean class.

Dahlias will start to come into flower in July, so as with beans and courgettes keep picking the flowers for the house or if you’re enjoying them outside then dead-head as the flowers go over so that you keep getting new buds.

First flowers showing (but a bit damaged)

Early fruit such as blackcurrants, strawberries and loganberries will be finished by show time, so why not try making some jam or jelly for the craft classes. This will also give you  a taste of high summer in the gloomy days of next winter.

Keep weeding, watering and feeding and most importantly don’t forget to enjoy your flowers, fruit and vegetables at this productive time of year.