Welcome to another insightful episode of the Veg Grower Podcast! In this episode, Richard, our dedicated host, dives deep into the seeds to sow in July, shares the seed of the month, and introduces a mouth-watering recipe from Chef Scott. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable tips and actionable advice to help you make the most of your garden this month. Let’s break down the key points discussed in the episode and explore each tip in detail.
Seed of the Month: Gourmet Loose Leaf Lettuce
Why Gourmet Loose Leaf Lettuce?
Richard kicks off the episode by highlighting the seed of the month: gourmet loose leaf lettuce (https://premierseedsdirect.com/product/lettuce-gourmet-looseleaf-cutting-mix/) . This variety is celebrated for its ease of growth and versatility in the kitchen. Loose leaf lettuce is perfect for gardeners of all levels, offering a continuous harvest throughout the growing season.
Tips for Growing Gourmet Loose Leaf Lettuce
• Soil Preparation: Ensure your soil is well-drained and rich in organic matter. Loose leaf lettuce thrives in fertile soil with good moisture retention.
• Sowing Seeds: Sow the seeds directly into the ground or in containers. Space the seeds about 1 inch apart and cover them lightly with soil.
• Watering: Keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged. Lettuce has shallow roots, so regular watering is crucial, especially during dry spells.
• Thinning: Once the seedlings are about 2 inches tall, thin them to allow about 6 inches of space between plants. This ensures adequate air circulation and reduces the risk of disease.
• Harvesting: Harvest the outer leaves as needed, allowing the inner leaves to continue growing. This method, known as “cut-and-come-again,” provides a continuous supply of fresh lettuce.
Special Offer
Richard also mentions a discount code VEGPOD10 for purchasing seeds from Premier Seeds Direct (https://premierseedsdirect.com/) , making it easier for listeners to get started with their gourmet loose leaf lettuce.
What Seeds to Sow in July
July is a busy month in the garden, and Richard provides a comprehensive list of seeds to sow in July. Here’s a detailed look at each category:
Salad Greens
• Varieties: Lettuce, rocket, spinach, and mustard greens.
• Tips: Sow in succession every two weeks to ensure a continuous harvest. Use shade cloth to protect from intense summer heat.
Radishes
• Varieties: French Breakfast, Cherry Belle, and White Icicle.
• Tips: Radishes grow quickly and can be harvested in as little as 4 weeks. Sow in well-drained soil and keep consistently moist.
Spring Onions
• Varieties: White Lisbon and Ishikura.
• Tips: Sow directly into the ground or in containers. Thin seedlings to about 1 inch apart for optimal growth.
Beetroots
• Varieties: Boltardy and Detroit Dark Red.
• Tips: Sow in rows about 12 inches apart. Thin seedlings to 4 inches apart to allow room for the roots to develop.
Herbs
• Varieties: Basil, parsley, dill, and coriander.
• Tips: Sow in well-drained soil and provide plenty of sunlight. Regularly pinch back the growing tips to encourage bushier growth.
Winter Vegetables
• Varieties: Cauliflowers, cabbages, and swedes.
• Tips: Start these seeds indoors or in a sheltered area. Transplant seedlings to their final positions once they are strong enough.
The Importance of Herbs in a Vegetable Garden
Richard emphasizes the role of herbs in a vegetable garden. Not only do they enhance the flavor of your dishes, but they also attract beneficial insects and can act as natural pest repellents.
Sowing and Caring for Herbs
• Basil: Prefers warm conditions and plenty of sunlight. Water regularly but avoid waterlogging.
• Parsley: Can be grown in partial shade. Keep the soil moist and harvest leaves regularly to encourage new growth.
• Dill: Sow directly into the ground. Dill prefers full sun and well-drained soil.
• Coriander: Best sown in cooler conditions. Provide partial shade and keep the soil moist.
Supporters Club: Benefits and How to Join
Richard introduces the Supporters Club, highlighting the exclusive benefits members receive. By joining, you support the podcast and gain access to:
• Monthly Seed Pack: Receive a curated selection of seeds each month.
• Behind-the-Scenes Podcasts: Enjoy exclusive content and insights from Richard’s gardening journey.
• Discounts and Offers: Get special discounts on gardening products and seeds.
Joining the Supporters Club is a great …
[Music] hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the veg growup podcast my name is Richard and I want to inspire and encourage more people to grow their own food by sharing exactly what I’ve been up to on my own allotment and my own garden now admittedly this week we are focusing solely on the Garden here at home not that I haven’t been at any alotment just that there’s not really be much to talk about apart from of course we survived the heat but we start this week off with the seed of the month so come meet me out by the veggie pod and we’ll find out what the seed of the month is for July well I’m out by my medium veggie pod now and I’m out here because it is time to sew our seed of the month now this is in collaboration with Premier seeds direct if you are looking to buy any seeds I’m sure you’ve heard of Premier seeds by now but if you are looking to buy any seeds I highly recommend you go and check them out the price of the seeds with the size of the packs just makes them amazing value and I you know I love to return decent value on what we spend in the garden but to make it even more appealing to you guys I do have a discount code Premier seeds do not pay me anything for this feature this feature is purely D for this discount code the discount code is veg pod 10 and you get an extra 10% off your order so what are the seeds for this month well it’s a variety of lettuce known as gourmet loose leaf now I’ve grown gourmet loose leaf many many times throughout the year over the years they are an absolutely delicious mixed variety of lettuce so you get different varieties in there they are tasty they are a loose leaf so you can treat them like a cat and cigan lettuce leaf they don’t create a big ball now I think this is quite important at a moment I’m on a bit of a health kick I’m trying to lose weight and I’m eating a lot of salads and I’m eating a lot of salads taking in for my lunch at work and just really going all out on our salads so these gourmet loose leaf are perfect and what I do is every morning I just come out and pick a few leaves and there we go that’s added to my lunch box obviously a bit of dressing a bit of other things added to it we do sometimes add some kale or some other types of leaves that we can mix and change as well but sewing these seeds are incredibly easy what I’ve done is I’ve prepared the soil What I’ve Done cleared away any weeds or any old crops because I grow all my salad crops in this medium veggie pod we tend to have what we sewed a few months back still in here but that’s came to the end of its life we’ve removed those I’ve then just loosened the top of the soil a little bit I’ve added a bit of fresh compost to be honest with you as well we could add some we could add some chicken manure Petes or some gromore just to add a bit of nutrition in here lettuce isn’t particularly hungry but in something like a veggie pod where we are continually growing the same crops the nutrients can get used up fresh compost does help now you don’t have to grow these in a veggie pot of course you can grow them in the ground in raised beds you can grow them in containers pots I’ve even grown them in hanging baskets all of which have been very very successful the key thing to remember when it comes to Growing lettuce lettuce does not like to get hot so in the summer it does have a tendency to bolt you can mitigate this by keeping the soil cool watering regularly and ensuring the soil never dries out I find a veggie pod is pretty easy for this but on a whole growing in this sort of moist soil is all you need to remember so we prepared the soil all we’re going to do open the packet and sprinkle him all over now let’s pack from Premier seeds I’m not going to sew the whole pack I’m going to sew about the quarter of the pack and that will give me plenty of lettuce we can get four whole sewings out of this packet so in a month’s time I will sew in another corner and in a month after that in another corner and a month after that in another corner so on and so on successionally sewing is something I find find a lot of people struggle with but I think it’s important with lettuce I think it’s easy to remember just sew them once a month and enjoy them set an alarm on your phone or something to remind you if that’s what you need but or you could just go for the first of a month and say that is the day you sew lettuce so we’ve sewn the seeds we I I like to just give the the soil a bit of a a tickle with my fingers just run my hands over this soil so that it’s the seeds are all mixed around nicely the soil it’s is nice and moist I have to say it should really water this before sewing but my soil here is nice and moist so we ain’t got to worry about that just yet and then we just leave it I reckon within a week these will have germinated and we grown and within 3 weeks they’re probably going to be ready for harvesting they don’t need much care at all just ensure the soil stays moist not hungry plants if you do want to feed them something like grow more or a High nitrogen plant feed but to be honest I don’t bother but when it comes to harvesting now cut and come again lettuce what we always used to do was just cut the lettuce off at the base and enjoy the lettuce what I now do is actually just pick leaves what I found is that one the plant lasts much much longer and we get more harvests out of what we have but two it tastes better as well it tastes fresher I find that by the time you’ve cut cat and cam again lettuce three times I think the roots just lose all the strength from being cut down all the time by just picking the leaves and mix it up pick them from different lettuces I find that we get some much better tasting lettuce so yeah top tip there that I have found I’ve got to admit that was Charles daing device and uh I’ve taken it and I it’s worked really really well now the great thing is as I said at the beginning of this segment I’m on a health kick I’m trying to lose weight by growing these lettuces we have a constant supply of salads I can eat salads every single day and not go hungry so I’m very very happy growing lettuce I’ve always said in the past that my wife and I we do eat a lot of lettuce we do eat a lot of salads and we don’t generally grow the bullheaded lettuce so what I mean that if you go to a supermarket you can buy an entire lettuce head we don’t buy that we don’t use that but the reason being is that by the time you’ve had that lettuce in the fridge for a couple of days it’s starting to wilt well we don’t get that with loose Lea because we’re picking leaves every day it never wilts and we get enough lettuce for us so we much prefer these loose leaf now if you do want to buy these seeds there is a link in the description from Premier seeds direct straight to the page for these lettuce and once again that discount code VOD 10 for an extra 10% off right I’m going to head on into the shed and look at what other seeds we can sew throughout July in the meantime let’s find out what’s been going on in the supporters Club this week well I hope you are enjoying this podcast so far if you are then please do rate and review this podcast on your pod provider be iTunes or Spotify either way it really helps us out it gets us discovered by more people more than that of course later on in this podcast but if you want to support the work that we do here help us encourage more people to grow their own food then please consider becoming a member of our supporters Club the supporters Club is set up to help keep this podcast running but I don’t believe in just taking money and saying thank you I believe in giving something back so the way the supporters Club works is for Just5 a month you get access to extra behind the scenes podcasts which just to give a bit more indepth view of what’s going on here at the veg grow podcast but added to that each month I also send out a seed pack and in this seed pack there’s usually six packets of seeds that can be sewn in that very month and included with this pack is also so our mini newspaper this gives you an idea of a few tasks you can do a few seeds to sew throughout the month as well as instructions for the seeds that we’ve sent out now over this last week we’ve sewn all the seeds for June we were talking about what seeds we’re sending out in July great selection of seeds there’s vicho there’s saded leaves there is turnips there is Dill there’s Pat Choy and if you want to find out what the sixth one is you have to sign up to become a member but I will say I think it is great value for just £5 a month but more importantly it helps keep this podcast running it helps run the website and things like that that are so essential to encouraging more people to grow their own food so if that is something you are interested in head to the VR podcast.co to find out more and sign up right let’s get back to the gardening well at the start of the year I always go through my SE box and try and get a nice tidy organized seed box but we’re at that point of the Year where the seed box itself has just became so um so messy all over the place but there’s still quite a few seeds that we can so we’ve just spoken about lettuce of course and lettuce is one that I grow lots of but we can throw into that obviously other saded Leaf crops so we got Speedy mixes we’ve got one that I’ve never grown before actually texal greens which is meant to be a speedy tasty salad green we’re going to give that a try can also use for stir fry vegetables sounds delicious uh oriental vegetables is classed but liberally we’ll give those a try and see how we get on so that’s definitely one that we could sew this month added to that of course there’s many other sad leaves Mauna rocket mustards I’ve sewn some spinach as a bit of an experiment somebody said to me they’ll probably bolt but we’ll see how we get on with those but yeah definitely the sad greens are something that we can definitely sew throughout July and added to that of course radishes I grow a lot of radishes throughout these months uh sparkler 3 you good old standard radish it’s one variety these can be S from February to September so definitely one that we grow quite regularly we try and make several sewings of of radish what we try and do is sew radish every couple of weeks just a few CU we don’t eat a lot of radishes but we sew a few every couple of weeks it keeps us in constant Supply and means that we never really run out of radishes we don’t have a huge amount in one Rush either and we thoroughly thoroughly enjoy them we get just get just enough added to radishes there are other varieties of radishes I’ve got one here called china Rose a distinctly slightly pungent taste which can only be sewn between July and August so it’s one that’s got to be sewn this month but it says it’s a traditional winter hardy variety with long tapering roots and attractive rose pink skins and crisps so it’s it’s definitely not the standard small balls of radish this is more like a carrot style radish like a daycon radish where it creates a long tapering route but nonetheless that is going to produce a good source of radishes throughout the winter I’m going to sew those directly in the garden later on this month uh added to that of course spring onions we sew lots of spring onions and again these can be sewn pretty much all year round but we thoroughly thoroughly enjoy growing spring onions and um I try and eat quite a few of them because again they go great in salads and again we want to solos every few weeks in order to have a continuous Supply a lot of people tell me they struggle to sew enough spring onions to keep Supply in particular they struggle with successional sewing so what I tell myself is just every 3 weeks set yourself a reminder on your phone or every two weeks just sew some of these crops and keep them at the front of your head it’s pretty easy once you get into the routine of it it’s just a case of thinking little and often then every couple of weeks just a few seeds sewn and enjoy beetroot we spoke about beetroot last week of course there’s many different varieties of beetro the bolard is growing very very well that we sewed last week and seems to be forming some decent Becks so they they’re doing fantastically well so moving on from the salad crops there’s plenty more salad crops of course but there’re going to be more that we can sew this month but we’ve also have herbs I always think that herbs are often overlooked for me herbs are the most essential plant to grow in any vegetable garden what I mean by that if you have very little space then grow herbs you can grow them on the window seal you can grow them in Potch you can grow them in the smallest of spaces and you can also grow them in the largest of spaces they can be grown as companion plants they’ve got so many good things that I think just makes them worthwhile and when I’m talking about these herbs parsley coriander Dill basil they can pretty much be sewing all year round with the right conditions May mean sewing them on your window seal or somewhere warm but I still think they are a must in any vegetable garden now we moving on to NE brascas as well cauliflowers you know if we want some winter vegetables such as winter cauliflowers winter cabbages and things like that that we’ve got to think about sewing them now July is really the chance to sew them now I’ve got this variety of cauliflower in front of me called all year round but looking on the seed on the packet it says only to save from February to May and then again in October but I’ve actually sewn these in July and they have given us decent winter cauliflowers but we also have a cabbage known as vertis 2 which we’ve sewn as well and they’re going to be sewn throughout July to try and keep this these are the seavoy cabbages which are great as winter cabbages again we want to sew a few of these every week to try and make sure we keep a supply coming in the winter and as spaces come available in our alotment or in our veg Garden they make great things to plant out added to that we’ve got swed as all a variety I’m using is best of all now I’ve always struggled with swed in the past last week I actually sewed a of swed and they’ve all came up to the point I may have to thin them out pretty soon I’ve also got some growing in plug plants I’ve got the ones in the ground look better than the ones in plug plants we’re going to have to pot up the plug plants pretty soon but that’s again something we need to sew pretty soon to try and keep these crops coming throughout the winter there’s a lot of thinking about the winter I know here we are in the middle of summer we need to think about what we want to grow or what we want to eat in the winter cabbages cauliflower SED kale these are all the things that we need to think of I would say it’s a little bit too late to sew any leaks unless you want some I mean you could sew leaks actually but you would only get some thin ones that are not going to go through the winter so you could grow them as like a a micro green almost or a very very thin leak to eat if you got a leftover leak seed it might well be worth doing that but if you’ve already got leaks growing now is a time to get them in the ground what else can we sew celery it’s we can’t sew celery uh broccoli purple Sprout and broccoli bit too late for that but we do have this is a a type of broccoli known as RAB and these are good because they can be ready in as little as 60 days I’m not personally a huge fan of them if I’m honest with you they don’t grow big heads of broccoli like you would imagine they grow more like the purple sprout in broccoli where it’s these tiny little broccoli shoots you have to pick them quite regularly H they can as I said they can be ready in as little as 60 days they can be sewn from February to September they are I find quite fincky they do need a lot of care they do need picking quickly otherwise they go to seed and when they go to seed they stop growing so you got to pick them quite regularly but they are they are a food source of course and you can certainly grow grow them pretty much February to September harvesting from May to November if you are sewing them so I might grow a few just to try and grow them again I’m not a fan of them but they are something we can think about do in it is a little too late to grow any of the chilies or the peppers or tomatoes they’re just not going to have enough time to grow and produce fruit so don’t bother with any of those cucumbers you probably just about got enough time to get a late sew a cucumber in if you do want to do anything like that then do that squashes as well a lot of people are having trouble with squash this year and understandably because a lot of slugs and snails have been about and um you could still get away with saying something like batter knut squash pumpkins you’ve just got to pray and hope that we get a decent summer but I’ll be honest they’re not going to be something I’m looking at sewing but I think really that covers everything that we are going to be sewing this month if there’s any more of course I will tell you throughout the month right I’m going to head outside and take you on a bit of a tour of my garden but while I head out there let’s find out what Chef Scott has for us this week hi it’s Scott here with another recipe and this week I thought I would share a really simple side dish using summer cabbages so something like a Primo cabbage will be great and if I’m looking for inspiration on what to do with cabbages I will always turn to Eastern Europe or perhaps Korea and it’s Europe I turn to for this recipe and it is summer cabbage with smoked bacon dill and sour cream I love how the combination of just four ingredients can create something so more rich and I think the sign of a good side dish is when you serve it alongside an expensive cut of meat and everyone forgets about the meat and fights over the side dish and this side dish is one of them dishes so let’s not delay and head to the kitchen and hear how it’s made as always you can find this recipe and others on the veg girl podcast.co and on my Instagram page see to table plot 13 for this recipe you will need 150 g of diced white onion 550 g of sliced Sumer cabbage 150 g of smoked bacon lardons 40 G of chopped dill and 250 g of sour cream method start by blanching the sliced cabbage in boiling water for 1 minute and then drain and set aside now in a sauce pan fry the bacon lens until light golden brown and then add the onions and cook until soft then add the sour cream followed by the dill and cabbage and cover with a lid and cook on a medium heat stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes and then season with salt and pepper and that’s the recipe done and that’s it from me this week well I’ve stepped out the shed now still at home we’re not down any alotment this week on the podcast I have been down the alotment everything is going great down there just not much really been happening so I just thought I’d take you on a bit of a tour of my home plot and let you know just what’s going on so just outside my my shed now this is a shed you may recall back in 2020 I built this Shed from my own design just buying the wood bolted it together no designs sent me not a flat pack or anything like that this was purely done on my own design and it’s still here it’s still lasting it’s done as very very well it’s 8T by 8T shed it has done very very well and we’re going to keep using it for many many years I probably do need to give it a bit of treatment low at some point now behind the shed is where I have four water butts which are still for I haven’t used water from those water butts just yet and then I have got six bins behind here where I keep all my plastic pots as well we do need to start using up these pots to the point that we don’t keep hold of them because they do tend to be a bit of a a thing that we store hoard we don’t need so many but luckily because they’re behind the shed they’re hidden from View and um they don’t disturb us too much I should explain my my back Garden here where we are 10 m wide 25 M long so it’s a reasonable size back garden and this very top bit where this shed is is in part of our patio area now I turned our patio area over to pretty much being completely growing food so just out the shed I’ve got what was the balcony gun where I I built an area to try and replicate a balcony that people might have in their own Flats I’m not really doing much with it I enjoyed it when we did it as an experiment but I’m not really doing much with it what I am finding is it’s where I’m growing on a lot of my seedlings this sort of area right outside the shed is becoming a bit of a a a Young Nursery area it’s probably the best way to describe it so we got some vegetable spaghetti seeds that are being eaten by slugs and snails but it looks fit I probably got to pot them on what are remaining and hope we get away with them we’ve also got some cabbages and cauliflowers and swed all of which need to go down to the alotment and I’ve also got my bonsai apple tree which is doing really really well bit of fun but we like it above I’ve got hanging baskets of tbling tomatoes and strawberries they are looking a little bit thirsty I’m going to have to give them a bit of a good watering before we finish tonight along the back I’ve got three more water butts pretty much have used all the water up out of two of them and halfway on the other one they actually on over the other side of this Garden I’ve got another water B attached to our summer house which is full so we I think we’re going to be okay for water I don’t know if we got any rain expected anytime soon but the four water Bots behind the shed are still full now moving a little bit further in front I’ve got some potatoes in pots that are part of a competition I’m taking part in I won’t go too much into that because uh we don’t want to give the game away then we’ve got pots of tomatoes I got five pots here two of these are in the autopot now this autopot system I am absolutely loving two pots and I’ve just potted them up I have not had to do much else with them the pot the reservoir keeps the pots watered I haven’t even had to top up the reservoir since we set it up Reservoir also contains the nutrients but the tomatoes on that are thriving away growing really really well and then we’ve got three more pots of tomatoes in which we see which compost grows the best tomatoes I won’t go too much into it cuz I want to wait until the end of the result but it is quite interesting what is going on I’ve got a great finding a a pot here that should probably go out the front thinking about it I might move that out there later on I’ve Got My Lemon Tree in a pot as well that’s starting to putt on some fresh grow I’ve recently visited a citrus Center and I’m hoping to get them on the podcast soon to talk about growing citrus plants and then I got my peach tree that peach tree does need a good watering but we’ve got quite a few Peaches on that that are swelling up rather nicely so we’re going to be looking forward to when they are ready now I’m going to step over into the other half of this patio area this is where we have our big barbecue uh and there’s a little table which is full up of many young plants again Ain rhubarb asparagus there’s uh lots of plants that probably shouldn’t be here and then of course I’ve got my veggie pods here as well three of them all of which are doing really really well so in the large one we’ve got lots of things like radish and spring onions and beetroot and cedy and carrots and tomatoes they’re doing really really well the tomatoes in here are mini Bells so they’re quite a a small type of tomato but they’re doing very very well now I’ve got to say we are getting carrots as I said and enjoying those the medium one of course the salads that we’re talking about earlier and then the small one is also for our herbs and they are doing all very really really well some really nice Lush growth that we get with the veggie pods nice and easy but what we and my wife have been talking about so this patio barbecue area what I want to do and I talking to my wife since covid we haven’t really been socializing that much we haven’t really had people around for barbecue as much as we used to so what I want to do my plan is that I move the veggie pods back to give us the barbecue area a bit more space we don’t have any of these young plants they go into that Sol of Nursery area over the other side we get a nice table back up here we clear away all the pots and foliage we won’t have as many plants in here we’ll probably keep the Olive Tree that I have here cuz that does do quite well but it’s going to be more for entertaining again and an outdoor kitchen we’ve got to start doing a bit more socialization I’ve also been asked about doing workshops here at home and I think this space might be the best space in which we do that so few changes are going to be going on here in the few next few weeks I’m not looking forward to moving the veggie pods if I’m honest with you cuz they are going to be heavy might need quite a few people to help with that I’ve still got this old chicken run I’ve been trying to get rid of it nobody has taken it up on the offer when I’ve said anybody wants a chicken run they can have it I’m going to have to destroy it seems a bit of a waste but is in very very poor condition now if we head further down into the path I’m into the large vegetable bed area at the back of course of this vegetable bed area I have my raised beds in which I’ve that pot up trellis we have a grape vine the grape is starting to flower so I don’t think it’ll be long before we get some lovely grapes on that the sub pod is in the ground of this which is my Underground composting system I’m still using it I’m still loving it it’s so good to have this area which the subpod doubles up as a seat so I can sit down with my morning cup of coffee and look at the Garden there’s composting going on in it at the same time where we put a lot of our kitchen waste unfortunately subpod do not the company has um ceased trading as I understand it which is a real shame because I did want to get a few more of these CU I thought for composting that was such a fantastic way but unfortunately no more so let’s go through my four beds here the first bed is where I had onions and garlic which we’ve harvested garlic the onions are doing really well here much better than on the alotment we’re just waiting for them all to fall over the stems to drop over and then we can start harvesting them I’ve got a couple more celery in there and the onions that we sewed at Christmas which are going to be late to much ready they’re actually doing very well I’m very pleased with those I’ve mulched this bed with grass and that seems to have worked quite well and I think we’ve got a few areas where we can sew a few of the seeds that we’ve talking about earlier next to that I’ve got my pea bed now the peas we’ve had a lot of trouble where the Slugs and snails were eating the peas as they emerged from the ground this year but we’ve made more and more sewings we got basically three Ros of peas they’ve just started producing some pods so that’s looking good what done differently with two of these actually is instead of growing them up nets I’ve put four canes to make a rectangle and then use string around the four canes to create the support for the peas and that seems to be working much much better than netting the string I’ve used is of course twine so I think that should do much better from what I’m seeing it certainly looks tidier and it’s biodegradable as well which is something I like more importantly we’re soon going to be harvesting our peas cuz I was worried we weren’t going to get any I have put a row of French beans in here uh the seeds were sewn Direct in the ground but they haven’t shown themselves just yet we sewn those two weeks ago this bed was actually mulched with the rocket grow mulch I got to say I’m quite impressed with it it does seem to be doing a very very good job we don’t have to do much watering in these beds if I’m honest with you then we got the what I called a y bed now I’ve got some cett some cucumbers and some Cape Goose spres that have recently gone in here there’s some fennel the fennel has just started to go to seed I don’t like fennel but uh the root was in here so we left it there’s some fever few as well which is a type of herb again these are doing quite well we had a lot of trouble with corette getting them established getting slugs and snails but I think we have turned the corner I actually mulched this with the heart of Eden mulch again that works very well and I’ve also used from andat the slug snail prevention Scara stuff that I brought from garden as well that seems to have worked quite well as well and in the fourth bed this is my Brassica bed I said earlier about sewing swed directly this is where I’ve sewn them there’s so many sweet plants I’m going to have to thin them out very very soon we’ve also got a couple of Brussels sprouts free cambes free CLI flowers four kale plants and a summer cabbage as well so doing quite well along there over towards the northern side I’ve got my 8T X 6t shed that I brought when I first moved into this house big mistake rabbish shed and we’re going to be getting rid of that soon I want to pop there a shed Greenhouse combination basically from when I sew my seeds that I can have them growing in there dedicated to Growing Seeds that’s my idea three water butts along the front any one of them is full at the moment I’ve also got my bottle fridge just in this area it’s in the wrong place we actually used it earlier on in the year for growing on our well basically as a cheap propagator a cheap Cold Frame it worked quite well it’s just when it gets hot it does get a little bit too hot in there at the moment I’ve got chili and peppers on top of that and they’re growing really really well some decent Peppers coming out that now The Raspberries I’ve B two raspberry beds Autumn ones and one side which I never cut down this year or last year I should say so we’ve got some Early Autumn raspberries and loads of them from that these are the yellow raspberries absolutely delicious and then on the southern side we’ve got the summer raspberries now when these were in flour we had so many bees around these raspberries they were going fantastic and I can see now there’s lots of raspberries that are they’re not quite ready just yet but they are growing quite well it is a little bit overgrown if I’m honest with you we’re going to have to sort this out once they’ve finished fruiting but we won’t worry about that just yet now as we move down into these four newer beds I put in this year they’ve been doing fairly fairly well one of our beds has been used as square foot garden which is not my favorite way to Garden square foot garden if you don’t know is where you divide the bed up into square foot areas and you just use that as a guide to plant we’ve got a tomato in here which is doing well another Cape Goosey which is doing pretty good we got carrots and only one carrot has came up we got radish and we we have got lettuce and they haven’t came up at all so I don’t know what’s going on with that I’ve got another bed dedicated to daers or daily Le they were to add a bit of color a bit of flower as you know I was trying to make things look better in this Garden this year but daers are also edible the tubers on those are edible so they’re definitely going to be doing some great things there then I’ve got this one bed that I’m just growing tomatoes in but this is what I put the ol poot in that I got from Garder world Spring Fair now this ol pot was a bit of an experiment all I wanted to do was see how well it would work and I haven’t had to water this bed at all it does have a straw mulch it’s the only bed that does have a straw mulch there’s a few ni stum that have also popped up that must have been in the compost but four tomato plants in here not needing any water in all I have to do about once a week I fill that ol pot up with water and that’s it that’s all the watering I have to do it’s working fantastically well now the ol poot is like a clay pot it just slowly allows water out into the ground around it I think I will get another one next year and just see how much of a difference it makes with the straw mulch if that’s been the reason why it’s not needed much watering I don’t know but it’s working it’s working fantastic now if you’re wondering why I’m using a straw mulch in this when I removed all the straw mulch of every other the bed it it’s a bit of an experiment I noticed the Slugs and snails didn’t seem to eat the tomatoes so I thought I’ll leave it here it’s definitely paid off it definitely has paid off because I’ve had to do very very little work in this bed I’ve just left the storm Al top up that pot once a week it’s fantastic it really is fantastic lots of tomato flowers not getting any oh there’s some green fruit but no red fruit just yet now we’ve got the chickens of course they are doing really really well we got four chickens now we um we got some new ones a couple of weeks ago we lost Martha unfortunately as well but yeah we’re getting three eggs every day bear is still there who is 8 years old believe it or not she’s doing really really well I do want to move the chicken run over slightly what I found is just behind the chicken run between the chicken run and our neighbors’s fence we do get quite a few Bros and I kind of want to get rid of that or make it easier for me to get behind there and and tidy up the brown B so we’re going to move it forward about a foot nearer the path that means getting rid of my herb garden talking about herbs herbs growing in the Belfast sinks or other sinks along the house wall are doing really really well again including the edible flower bed too lots of Rosemary lots of different herbs all of which we are harvesting and thoroughly enjoying and then the final I won’t worry about the front garden cuz I’ve spoken about the front garden quite a bit on this podcast and we’re getting on for quite a long run but the only area I’ve got left is in the greenhouse now the greenhouse here has been doing a really really good job I’ve got to say we’ve got two tomatoes in here which have produced some beautiful looking tomato fruit we’re training those up around twine we’ve got the garlic that we’ve harvested drying off in here as well I think they’re pretty much nearly going to be ready for harvesting the garlic here at home they have not been brilliant like the ones on the alotment they have not been brilliant I did have my strawberry plants in here they had finished fru in and I thought they’re getting a bit too hot in here so I’ve moved those outside as well but we’ve also got our cucumbers in here our dragon egg cucumber and the market more they’re just starting to produce some fruit here which is fantastic the Dragon’s egg we’ve got a couple of plants down in the greenhouse on the alotment as well as outside and the alotment funly enough does seem to be doing much better than the ones here at home I don’t think this greenhouse cuz it’s plastic glazed gets as hot as the greenhouse we have down on the alotment and that just means it’s a little bit behind I’m not worried because we’re getting four dragon egg cucumbers each week from down on the alotment and when those plants are over with I think this one would take over and then the outdoor one so plenty of cucumbers that we are getting and then of course we’re going to get the market Ms which you can see I starting to produce some lovely fruit as well can’t wait to get into those well that has been a tour of my back Garden I haven’t included the front gunen cuz I think we would be here for quite a while I’m going to head on into the poding shed where I’ll meet you to finish off this week while I’m back in the poding shed now it is time to start wrapping up this podcast but as always I’d like to share any of the correspondents I’ve had over this last week now I’ve had an email from Ellen she says she’s just listened to our weekly podcast from last week and she totally agrees that mulching whatever is available significantly cuts down on watering and weeding I thought I would share a tip I picked up I think from lag’s Question Time Podcast but mulching in hot weather cover beds with greens this can be rubab leaves comy stalks and leaves or grass clippings the greens are supposed to help cover the soil and prevent water lost and the extra benefit in hot weather is that the greens dry out the moisture they release helps cool the plants around them she has no science to back this up but I’ve been triling it out and it seems to help thank you and Chef Scott for a great podcast thank you so much for sharing that tip and I really do think there’s something in it and it’s something we might have to try and experiment with especially if we get another Heat Wave and see just how much of a difference it makes but of course I ask each week if you can rate and review and I really appreciate anybody that does rate and review only takes you a few seconds but it really does help boost our algorithms which gets us seen by more people now ly as always she loves leaving a review I’m really grateful for every review she leaves she says I find standing with a hose pipe really boring I agree so I leave my 300 L water Barrow to fill with a hose then wheel to the beds and then empty with a watering can so much quicker L you know what a few years ago I brought this sort of water container that sat in a wheelbarrow and you filled it up with water then you would take it over to the trees and just lift up the wheelbarrow and it would water your trees so great idea I’ve got to say I don’t like using Main’s water as I’m sure you are aware but I’m sure you could actually do that thinking about it I could probably do that using our water on the alotment quite well thank you for giving me a good idea Lynn much appreciated so please do rate and review it does get our creative juices thinking now if you do want to get get in touch you can email me richardthe podcast.co or you can head to the website the vetrap podcast.co you can leave a voicemail or you can leave a comment on the end of a blog post I currently have just shut down the forums on there they weren’t getting used there were a lot of spam going on there so I currently shut down the forums that might be a permanent thing I’m not sure just yet but you can still leave a comment on the blog post please consider becoming a member of our supporters club and of course don’t forget to follow us on social media we will be back again next time so until then please take care