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.

By the start of June all your plants for this year’s show will probably be planted up, so this month’s priority is maintaining plant health.

Observation underpins all integrated pest management strategies and helps you to catch problems early, so keep an eye out for things like holes in leaves and distorted growing tips that are indicators that pests are around even if you haven’t seen the little critters themselves. Strong plants are better equipped to fight off pests and diseases so watering and feeding will now be important.

If recent summers are any guide, it will be necessary to water the thirstier crops.  Do remember that water is required at the roots, simply wetting the surface doesn’t get water where you need it and can be counter-productive as it will encourage weed seeds to germinate. Using watering systems that deliver the water underground are much better than spraying a hosepipe around.  In most vegetable plots a full underground irrigation system is unlikely to be a practical option, but there are simple ways to get water below ground level.  The “Rolls-Royce” option is probably using Gro-Pots, but simply sinking a 2 litre flower pot into the ground next to a tomato, squash or courgette will help to get plenty of water straight down to the developing root system.

Squash in a Gro-Pot

Watering pots in sweet corn bed

Root seedlings (parnsips and carrots) need a little bit of water to get them established, but once they are growing try to avoid too much watering as you really want the roots to be driving down searching for water.

As well as water many plants will also require feeding.  We tend to push fruit and vegetables quite hard to get them to crop in a short window, so they will need a bit of extra help.  For leafy crops a general feed will work well, but for fruiting crops (tomatoes etc.) June is the time to switch to a high potassium feed to encourage flower and fruit formation.

Keep pinching out the shoots growing from the axils of the main stem on tomatoes to ensure that you have one solid stem transporting water and nutrients to the swelling fruit. Similarly if you are growing a giant pumpkin, pinch out all tendrils, side shoots and flowers until you have a long, strong main stem (4-5 metres if you have the space) before allowing just one fruit to develop.

After the normal “June drop” thin out the fruit on apples and pears even further. Thinning out will give you much better quality fruit and reduce the risk of diseases (such as brown rot) which can be spread by overcrowding. This will give fruit that are better for eating and storing as well as showing!

June Drop

May is an important month for a September show. Towards the latter part of the month we should be confident that the last of the frosts will have been and gone (this year we had frost on the allotment over the first weekend in May).  The end of frosty nights will mean that all of the more tender plants such as tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, squashes and pumpkins can be planted out and French and runner beans sown. Vegetable plots, greenhouses and allotments will all start to look full again.

Allotment planted up in May

Last month we mentioned that parsnips make an impressive addition to the “top tray” collection class, another option is late peas. Most peas are sown early and are likely to be in the ground by now with a view to harvesting before the pea moth season (June-July). However, a late sowing at the end of May or early June will give plants that flower too late for infestation and not only give a delicious late harvest, but an extra option for the show.

Across all of your plants keep weeding to reduce competition for moisture and nutrients and to reduce the hosts available for pests and diseases.

Tomatoes will start to produce side shoots, so keep pinching these out to create a strong main stem that can carry water and nutrients to the flower trusses to maximise fruit production.

Side shoot for pinching out

Pinched out

If you are planning to show some dahlias have a look online to find some guides to getting the best possible blooms and don’t forget that there is a class for very small blooms as well as the big blousy ones.  Where better to start than the National Dahlia Society.