Spotlight Magazines Spotlight on West Bridgford, Nottingham June 2015 | Page 8

Spotlight Magazine

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Never Too Late

ardening is an ongoing affair and
though timing is important, we often
become overwhelmed by a sense of being
‘too late to plant’ by some arbitrary date.
Often we bandy dates around as though
they were written in stone.

My granddad insisted all potatoes and
spring beans had to be sown by Good
Friday, and the gooseberry bush had to be
in leaf before the runner beans were sown.
But in fact each season is different and
garden planting dates are more flexible
than traditional wisdom would have us
believe! The good news is that it’s not too
late to plant a great garden, even in June
and July.
While it is true that fruiting plants like
tomatoes and peppers really need to be
set out now, many other summer producers
will grow even more quickly from seeds
planted in early summer, when the soil is
already well warmed.
You’ll be surprised how fast seeds will
come up and explode with growth:
cucumbers, beans and winter squashes,
pumpkins, beets, carrots, chard and
scallions, are all suitable for June planting.

I usually start seeds every month, finishing
sowing summer-producing vegetables in
late June. In July and August, I move on
to seeds for autumn crops like spinach,
radishes, kale, leeks, peas, broccoli, more
mild mustards and some pak choi.
June is not too late for flowers either. I’ve
planted marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos,
zinnias and nasturtiums at this time of
year. That way when the first annuals have
burned out by late summer I have a lovely
smaller flush of blooms to enjoy.
If you really want to get ahead, June and
July are also good times to start seeds for
perennials and biennials Ѽ