July is a transitional time: on the one hand you're starting to harvest a lot of the spring sowings, and on the other, it's time to get sowing again to ensure that you have veg into the winter and following spring.
Looking back at the year so far, here are my successes and failures (items marked with an asterisk are my first attempt at growing this kind of plant):
Successes:
- Broad beans - OK, but need more work on keeping blackfly at bay. I really want to try overwintering them this coming year, as they do well on our allotment site
- Cabbage and cauli - OK so far (fingers crossed!)
- Carrots - grew really well in the raised bed, though they could have done with being just a bit more thinned
- Coriander - self-seeded last year, and this spring I had so much of it, I was giving away big bunches to the neighbours
- Courgettes - OK. They never over-produce for me; maybe I don't feed or water them enough?
- Garlic - fantastic! Decent crop despite the wet weather, and my biggest bulbs yet!
- Onions - planted a bit late, but coming along nicely
- Parsley - survived right through the winter without protection, and after cutting right back to a stump, it's flowering, so should self-seed
- Peas - OK. Not sure I like the variety I grew all that much (tiny petit pois, hard to catch at the perfect moment), so maybe try something different next year
- Squash* - a half-success, really. Only one fruit, though it looks very healthy. Maybe it needed more feeding and/or water?
- Tomatoes, outdoor - doing very well compared to last year (when they all died of blight), though I should have staked them earlier
Failures:
- Asparagus* - the bed I planted in spring 2007 hasn't thrived, probably a combination of very wet weather last year and insufficient weeding. Perversely, the row that I dumped some waste soil on has done better than the rest - still rubbish, but at least it hasn't died altogether!
- Celeriac* - hasn't done well on this first attempt. I suspect it needs a lot more watering, so in my new rotation system I'm going to put it in with runner beans, which also like damper conditions
- Chillies - went really well, then I needed the cage (used to protect young plants from my cats) to break one of my bantams out of her broody spell, so I put the chilli plant outside and it got battered by a rainstorm :(
- Cucumbers* - started well, but then the chickens scratched up the plants :(
- French beans - no luck so far. Need to take more precautions against slugs! (Summer sowings in pots are coming along nicely, however)
- Leeks* - were doing well, but I wasn't able to put them in on time because the garlic was slow to mature, and they faded. Replacing with plug plants this year, and will refrain from sowing leeks quite so early next year!
- Peppers - see cucumbers
- Potatoes - possible blight and a poor crop. Next year I'm going to try them in a barrel on the patio, where I can put a raincover over to reduce the chance of blight
- Runner beans - started well, but died back in the hot spell at the end of May. One plant made a good come-back, but the crop is of course limited. Think I will try digging a trench under the wigwam next year and filling with organic material.
- Sweetcorn* - disaster! My cat ate the first batch of young plants, and of the direct-sown ones, only one survived the slugs :(
- Tomatoes, indoor* - grown as insurance against another wet summer, but keeping them watered has not been easy (my conservatory gets very hot), and they haven't flourished