Kitchen Garden July 2025

The growing season is in full swing and there is so much to enjoy in the garden this month. There is plenty to keep you busy in this issue too. We have our usual mix of expert advice, readers’ gardens, timely reminders, money-saving offers and giveaways for you, all designed to entertain and to help you get the very best from your patch. Following one of the driest springs on record, lifelong professional gardener Martin Fish is on hand with advice to help you make the best use of water in the garden, plus we have a roundup of some great watering kit from staff writer Tony Flanagan. Saving your own seeds brings lots of advantages: great germination, adaption to local conditions and reduced costs. In this issue ace horticulturist…

FEED CROPS Keep feeding hungry fruiting plants, including tomatoes, melons and aubergines to encourage plenty of fruit. Use homemade feed, or a bought in liquid seaweed feed LIFT POTATOES Harvest second early potatoes and dry for storage. Tamp down the soil on the bed and it is ready for sowing or to plant out again with the next vegetable transplants MULCH RHUBARB Stop picking spring cropping rhubarb and leave to recover to encourage bountiful crops next year. Mulch with some compost and water if the weather is dry STORE HERBS Harvest and store herbs including mint, basil, lemon balm, lemon verbena and oregano, for use during the winter. Once completely dry store in jars. Don't forget to label them! TEND TO CORN Summer warmth and sunshine will encourage sweetcorn to…

Trugs filed with summer harvests including courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes and cucumbers bring delicious fresh flavours into the kitchen. Annual herbs such as dill, coriander, chervil and basil complement these crops beautifully but frustratingly can go to seed when the weather warms up. The key to having plenty of fresh herbs to go with your bountiful harvests is to successional sow. Dill, coriander and chervil bolt – go toflower – quickly during the summer. To ensure that there are enough tasty leaves to enhance meals and preserves sow seeds in rows in the ground, or in pots under cover, to pick at around 10-15cm (4-6in) high, rather than growing on as plants (which will bolt). Towards the end of August start sowing to grow as plants again. Unless the weather is…

COUNCILS CHALLENGED TO PROMOTE COMMUNITY FOOD GROWING A new report from the Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature project is calling on local councils to raise their ambition for community food growing after finding significant benefits for community wellbeing, nature restoration and local economies. The project, a partnership between The Wildlife Trusts, the WI, Incredible Edible and Garden Organic, is funded by the National Lottery Fund. It has supported local community food initiatives to grow sustainable and nature-friendly food across the UK including in London, Nottingham and Hull. The independent report shows that community food growing boosts local economies and provides opportunities to access natural spaces, improves people's physical health through them spending time in nature, and can make a huge difference to mental health and wellbeing as people work…

A HENLEY HARVEST I grow fruits and vegetables in a walled kitchen garden on an undisclosed private estate near Henley-on-Thames. To get the most out of the growing season I sow early under glass from seed. By June I am harvesting warmth loving crops from the glasshouse (tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, melons and soft herbs). Outdoors from the kitchen garden I have been harvesting: cauliflower, broccoli, radish, baby carrots, spinach, salads, asparagus, baby potatoes, spring onions, rhubarb, wild rocket, baby beets and broad beans. On the fruit side I have been harvesting honeyberries and strawberries. The honeyberries and strawberries look great this year after a lot of trouble with grey squirrels. I have reinforced the bird cages which seems to be working for now! Stephen Last, Reading STAR LETTER WINS £25…

Get in touch by post, email or via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/kitchengardenmag HOW LONG FOR LEMONS? My new lemon tree is starting to flower. How long will it take to produce lemons? Melissa Wright, Ballymena STAR QUESTION WINS £25 VOUCHER STEVE SAYS: Your new lemon tree looks very healthy indeed and I can see it has lots of flower buds giving you lots of potential for fruit. The flowers of the lemon tree are self-fertile, but if you stand your plant outside during the summer in a sheltered sunny spot (from about mid-June in most areas) the wind and pollinating insects may well help to improve fruit set. Plants are not hardy, however, and should be brought in before the first frost, if not before. If you keep your plant…