Techniques & tips for success

Below is a checklist of jobs that can be done in the veg garden during summer.

Remember to be guided by the weather and soil conditions of your own plot. Gardens in cold, exposed regions will be a few weeks behind those in warmer, more protected regions and jobs will need to be delayed accordingly.

Sowing

Long days, moist soils and warm temperatures produce peak crop growth. In fact, plants fulfil most of their potential in early summer. By late summer, conditions are much less favourable and plants seldom recover lost ground later. So it makes sense to get everything sown and planted and in full growth as early in mid-summer as possible.

Courgettes, cucumbers, French and runner beans, marrows, melons, pumpkins, runner beans, squash and sweetcorn can now be sown outdoors, in sheltered mild districts, where they are to grow. In fact, sown in situ, they develop superior roots systems that help them grow fast and need less watering than those transplanted from pots.

As maturing crops are lifted and land becomes free during mid- to late summer, sow quick-growing crops of beetroot, French beans, kohl rabi, radishes, salad crops, winter salad leaves and turnips.

Sowings for next spring should be done in late summer, including spring cabbage, leaf beets and spring onions.

It is rather late to sow many of the crops that should have been sown in spring, but there are often plants to be had from garden centres or from acquaintances. You should check that these are free of soil-borne diseases such as clubroot (brassicas) or white rot (leeks).

However, you can still make successional sowings of beetroot, calabrese, carrots, French beans, lettuce, kohl rabi, radishes, rocket, salads generally, spinach and turnips and herbs such as coriander and parsley.

By the end of early summer, crops that run prematurely to seed (bolt) if they encounter cold nights and/or short days can be sown. Chicory, endive, Florence fennel and the Oriental greens including Chinese cabbages can all be sown.

It is worth raising plants in cell trays to put out as land becomes free in late summer. French and runner beans and courgettes are particularly valuable.

View our A-Z veg profiles for further information on specific crops for what to sow when

Planting

All remaining hardy plants, such as cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, celeriac, broccoli and leeks, grown in trays, pots or seedbeds should be planted out as soon as possible.

Tender plants raised indoors can also be set out after hardening off. A fleece covering is especially helpful in boosting growth in cool districts. Aubergines, okra and peppers seldom thrive without extra protection outdoors, whether that's cloches or fleece.

In late summer potato tubers can be planted for autumn crops of new potatoes, although blight can be damaging in wet, warm autumns.

Growing

Canes and stakes should be inserted in good time to support taller crops, such as runner beans and tomatoes. Netting peas and cabbage family crops against pigeons may be necessary. Collars to fend off cabbage root fly should not be neglected and precautions taken against carrot fly.

Train beans and tomatoes to their supports. Nip out sideshoots and tops of trained tomatoes and pinch out the tops of climbing beans as they reach the top of their supports.

Potatoes can be given their final earthing up in early summer before the foliage meets in the rows.

In late summer, tall winter crops, such as Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli, can be earthed up or staked to hold them steady against strong winds.

View our A-Z veg profiles for further information on growing specific vegetables

Watering

Watering may be needed during dry spells. Targeting watering to the most responsive crops can reduce this chore to manageable proportions.

To find out more about watering view our advice page or view the individual needs in the A-Z profiles.

Feeding

Feeding crops with more fertiliser is often worthwhile. Greedy cabbage family plants, beetroot, celery, celeriac and leeks especially benefit from supplementary feeding.

Liquid feeding plants growing in the ground is a great way of getting an immediate response.

Container-grown vegetables will need regular (every seven to 10 days) additions of liquid fertiliser.

Harvesting

From early summer the first crops - baby carrots, beetroot, broad beans, salads and peas for example - are ready to gather. As their freshness declines with age don't delay harvesting. There should be plenty more crops coming along, especially if you sow successionally, and you will need the space occupied for later crops.

As crops go over consign them to the compost bin, lightly cultivate the ground, adding fertiliser, and sow or plant further crops. It is a pity to waste space when growing conditions are at their peak.

By late summer harvesting crops is in full swing. Frequent picking of beans, peas, tomatoes and deadheading flowering herbs helps promote continuous cropping. Garlic, onions and shallots will topple and can be gathered, dried and stored.

Clear spent crops as fast as possible to eliminate pests and diseases and expose weeds to cultivation.

Potatoes should be gathered and stored as soon as ready to avoid slug damage.

If you have time on your hands and the soil is sufficiently moist, sowing green manures, such as fodder radish, fenugreek and mustard, in late summer can scavenge fertiliser that might otherwise be lost to winter rains and improve the workability of stiff soils.

Pests, diseases & weeds

Insect pests such as blackfly, caterpillars, greenfly and leaf-mining insects can begin to cause damage in summer.

Carrot fly, cabbage root fly and cabbage white butterflies are active and countermeasures should not be relaxed as an infestation now can ruin the crops.

Red spider mite thrives in hot dry conditions causing leaf loss on French and runner beans.

Slugs and snails can still be a problem if the conditions are reasonably cool and moist.

Potato and tomato blight can be a menace from mid-summer if the weather is warm and humid, and you may need to spray plants with a fungicide to protect them.

In dry seasons powdery mildew can be damaging to courgettes, cucumbers, peas, pumpkins and swedes. Careful watering to keep the soil moist but the foliage dry can limit damage.

Weed growth should slow down in summer, but survivors of the spring flush of weeds will need removing before they can set seed and cause problems later.

Find out more about crop pests