Plan For Success

July is when winter really starts to bite. Everything goes dormant, including the gardener, which makes this the month to plan for spring and summer, look back at lessons learnt, and undertake the basic garden tasks at a leisurely pace.

There’s a reason why July is a quiet time in the garden – it gives us time to plan for the next season.

Review the past season: jot down your successes and failures, problems with pests and diseases, oversupply or undersupply, which veggies you would like to plant more of, others that you can ditch, and perhaps what you would like to try.

Factor the first and last frost dates into your planning. Sean Freeman of Living Seeds advises that the last winter planting in the ground should be at least 3-4 weeks before the first frost. In areas that don’t get frost the cut-off is when the night temperature drops below 10°C. In spring, don’t sow in situ until after the last frost.

Once you have decided what to plant, set up your sowing/ planting schedule, which includes succession planting and estimated harvest date. This can be done on a weekly or monthly basis with the aid of computer programmes, a year planner, even with your smartphone!

Incorporate soil preparation, compost making, feeding and pest control into the plan.

Getting a head start

While the first part of July is all about planning, the second half can be devoted to kickstarting that plan, by starting seed indoors in seed trays or pots, under warm, controlled conditions.

Veggies that can be started in this way are fruiting or ‘aboveground’ crops like brassicas, squashes, leafy greens, tomatoes, brinjals, peppers and chillies. Carrots and other below-ground crops are not suitable.

After the last frost it’s safe to plant out hardened seedlings, which brings harvest time forward by up to a month.

3 must-haves for starting seed indoors

Seeds need moisture, the correct soil temperature and light (sometimes) to trigger germination.

Warm soil