Enjoying a July Harvest

July Produce

July is a wonderful month for those who grow their own. Often, days can be spend wandering around the garden and harvesting all the many different crops that can be ready at this time of year. If you have planned well earlier in the year then you could now be eating well from your garden. Here are some of the things you could be eating this month:


Harvesting from the Vegetable Patch


You will probably by now be pulling the last of your first early potatoes from the ground. You may be able to enjoy this staple with broad beans, perhaps your first runner beans and French beans towards the end of the month, peas and mange tout, spinach, lettuce, radishes, beetroot, pak choi, chard, carrots, green onions, garlic, Calabrese broccoli, summer cabbages, courgettes, marrows and perhaps even, towards the end of the month, your first cucumbers and tomatoes. Fresh and varied salads are perhaps the main delight of the summer months.


Wild RaspberriesHarvesting from the Fruit Garden/Orchard


Many soft fruits come into ripeness this month, including gooseberries, most currants, and wild and summer-fruiting cultivated raspberries. Wild raspberries will usually ripen before cultivated raspberries and the harvest will last for around a month. Towards the end of the month you may begin to see the first ripe autumn raspberries too, though their harvest will usually come a little later in the year. You may also be enjoying the last of the strawberries this month.


BorageHarvesting Edible Flowers and Herbs


In July, there will be no shortage of herbs and edible flowers to enjoy in your dishes. Summer brings with it great variety and you will likely find that your herb garden is looking at its very best this month. While you should, of course, use fresh herbs while you can, it is also a good idea to take some time this month to cut and dry some herbs for usage later in the year. Dry basil, marjoram, rosemary and other herbs and then store them and they can keep throughout the year. Nasturtiums and borage are perhaps the best known edible flowers, but there are many others that may well be a good addition to summer salads.