Mike Dunton’s Maritime Northwest Edition Victory Gardener’s Almanack for the month of July
July marks the peak of the spring gardening season. This is the time of the year to reap the rewards of our Winter and Spring work. Some crops are peaking; some are done and ready to be removed to make room for planting your Fall harvested garden.
In the Vegetable Garden
Plant Your Fall Garden:
- Plant broccoli and Brussels sprouts that you started in June.. Mulch to retain moisture and to keep the soil cool.
- Start cabbage and cauliflower plants 6 to 8 weeks before your first frost date. Transplant them after they develop a couple sets of leaves. Like broccoli, they will need protection from the heat.
- Sow parsnips, carrots, and turnips in the early part of the month to follow a crop that is done.
- Mustard, kale, winter beets, radish, kohlrabi, spinach and lettuce can all be sown as close as 4 to 6 weeks before your first frost date.
- It is not too late in most areas to sow a crop of shorter seasoned beans to be enjoyed this fall.
- When planting seeds in the middle of summer, plant a bit deeper than normal since the surface layer of soil will dry out quickly.
- Harvest beans, carrots and cabbage now, while they are at the immature, tender stage.
- Side dress heavy feeding plants, like squash, by working well composted manure or compost into the soil.
- While watering, inspect plants and remove any unwanted insects or egg clusters.
- To avoid sun-scald, pick tomatoes as they start to turn color and let them ripen indoors.
Mike Dunton is the founder of the Victory Seed Company and one of the early signers of the Safe Seed Pledge. The Victory Seed Company works to preserve rare, threatened, heirloom seeds and to make them available to home gardeners. Mike is an entrepreneur, farmer, lifelong gardener, and seed saver interested in “old-timey” ways, historical agriculture and biodiversity preservation. From his ancestral farm in Liberal, Oregon, he focused all of these interests and founded the mission-driven Victory Seed Company in 1998. He works to locate, grow, document and preserve rare, threatened, heirloom seed varieties keeping them available to gardeners nationwide. You can find them online at www.VictorySeeds.com or email him at info@victoryseeds.com. Your support is greatly needed and appreciated.
