Staggered sowings and plenty of manure and nutrients are key ingredients for Sue Goodchild’s French garden
Glorious July brings so much colour and richness to the French garden, and there is a wealth of wonderful plants all striving for attention. Extreme heat is often followed by thunderstorms. The rain is welcome for the swedes, foxgloves, verbena, asters and turnips, all germinated under cover and then planted out. We have self-seeded nigella and evening primrose, and poppies have germinated everywhere.
Plants grow rapidly in June and July so they need nutrients as well as water. The constantly changing temperature means opening and closing the greenhouse and tunnel doors and vents. The tomatoes in our greenhouse grow very fast and need their side shoots pinching out regularly to prevent the formation of smaller fruit thus diverting the plants’ energy. I planted courgettes on the compost heap and due to the heat the decomposing material generates, I now have huge plants and early fruits.
The raspberries have benefitted from the thunderstorms we had and have grown extremely tall, arching over the pathway – I had to cut a path through. I moved one of the bananas to a brighter, warmer spot in the flower border and managed to divide the crown in two. Everything is looking lush with the lawn still green – unusual for this time of year (thanks to all the rain we had). I’ve also pruned huge growths of sloes, hawthorn, bamboo, roses, wisteria, honeysuckle and, of course, brambles which constantly creep in from the field and woodland next door.
PEAS PLEASE
Peas are my husband’s favourite vegetable, so we grow plenty through staggered sowings as they’re best picked and eaten immediately for the sweetest flavour and before the sugars turn to starch. They can be frozen successfully if you do it within a short time of picking. Seed catalogues describe peas as early, second earlies or maincrop, which refers to their harvest time.
As peas have an extensive root run, wider spacing between seeds produces a larger harvest. The soil needs to be improved with well-rotted compost or manure. This gives good drainage and retains moisture. Peas need water so are best sown into a prewetted soil and left until the shoots appear before watering again. Over-watering can result in taller thinner plants. They require more water when flowering to help swell the pods to full capacity.
Guttering is useful for sowing as the plantlets can be slid out into a pre-dug trench. When they emerge, they are staked, usually with twigs and garden prunings, so that the tendrils climb and attach for support. Peas sown early in the year crop before the pea moths arrive in summer.
Peas are part of the legume family, whic
