What to plant

Where early crops have been cleared dig over the ground and plant the

last of the successional crops, particularly salads. In fact you will be

able to go on sowing salads

into August.

Sow turnips to be ready for autumn game, particularly wild duck.

Chinese and Japanese greens, the majority are varieties of cabbage,

have become enormously popular and are available in most supermarkets, but

with a little bit of care and the right timing they are not difficult to

grow, and freshly cut from the garden are delicious raw in salads, steamed

or stir fried.

July is the month to sow the oriental greens because they are what are

called short day plants, which means they do not want long light days to do

well. Sown in May and June they tend to bolt into flower and seed before

they are fit to eat.

Pak Choi is a superb little cabbage. Sow now to produce neat, firm

heads, and you can go on sowing until about six weeks before you expect the

first frost in your area. Sow direct into the ground and thin out the

plants to between six and eight inches.

Mizuna greens have almost fern-like leaves and quite a loose habit.

You can either pick the leaves individually or cut off the whole plant. It

is a good salad plant.

The familiar Chinese leaves which grow into a solid cos lettuce shape

need to be sown now and eaten as soon as they have hearted up. They will

not stand winter conditions unlike the splendid 'Green-in-the-Snow' which

has a spicy mustard flavour and will stay in good condition outside in the

winter. The young leaves are excellent in salad, but mature plants should

be cooked.

Another great winter vegetable which should be sown now is the Black

Spanish radish. There is a long rooted one and a round variety. The round

variety, which grows to the size of a turnip, is the best. The skin is

very hot, but peeled and grated it makes a superb winter salad, or it can

be cooked.

Sow a final crop of French beans.

Plant out broccoli.

Sow endive for winter use.

French and Italian broad-leaved parsley, and chervil sown now will be

ready for winter use. The broad-leaved parsley seems to stand the winter

better that the curly forms.

Plant out winter greens where the first early potatoes were grown.

Find space for a nursery bed for perennials raised from seed to grow

them on for planting in permanent places in the autumn.

Sow Swiss chard for autumn and winter use, and fresh growth in the

early spring.