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It’s a fantastic time of year in the garden; flowers blooming in a glorious array of colours, and fruit and vegetables developing ready for harvest. The longer days and warmer weather means that we can enjoy the garden to the full. It isn’t long before the school summer holidays and you’ll need to make plans to help your garden through the break. You may be lucky enough to have a team of volunteer helpers but if not, don’t worry, we’ll give you lots of ideas that will help your garden survive the summer months. What to Sow, Plant and Harvest There is still time to sow some seeds, have a look here for some suggestions. If you have someone looking after your garden during the summer, we have included suggestions for August. June Sow Indoors in pots or modules - basil, calabrese, Chinese cabbage. Sow Direct - French bean, runner bean, beetroot, calabrese, carrot, cauliflower, lettuce, spring onion, pea, mangetout, radish, spinach, swede, turnip. Plant Outdoors - sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprout, cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, leek, marrow, squash, sweetcorn, outdoor tomato. Harvest - beetroot, carrot, courgette, garlic, lettuce, onion (overwinter sets), spring onion, shallot, parsley, rocket, Swiss chard. July Sow Indoors in pots or modules - basil, spring cabbage, calabrese, Chinese cabbage. Sow Direct - French bean, beetroot, calabrese, carrot, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, spring onion, pea, mangetout, radish, spinach, Swiss chard, turnip. Plant Outdoors - sprouting broccoli, calabrese, cauliflower, kale, leek. Harvest - beetroot, cabbage, calabrese, early carrot, cauliflower, celery, courgette, garlic, lettuce, onion (overwinter sets), spring onion, pea, mangetout, early potatoes, radish, shallot, spinach, Swiss chard, parsley, rocket. August Sow Indoors in pots or modules - spring cabbage, calabrese. Sow Direct - calabrese, carrot, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, spring onion, radish, turnip, Swiss chard. Plant Outdoors - calabrese, Chinese cabbage. Harvest - French bean, runner bean, beetroot, cabbage, calabrese, carrot, cauliflower, celery, courgette, lettuce, marrow, onion, spring onion, pea, mangetout, maincrop potatoes, radish, spinach, Swiss chard, sweetcorn, outdoor tomatoes, turnip, parsley, rocket.

Digitalis & eschscholzia

Harvesting and cooking your vegetables

Lettuce

Lettuce If you’ve sown salad crops such as lettuce, radishes and spring onions earlier this year, you’ll be enjoying some fantastic salads at the moment. If you are growing cut-and-come again lettuce, just cut the leaves regularly as you need them and swish them thoroughly in water. All other lettuces can be cut at the base when they are ready to harvest, just tear the leaves from the stalk and wash them thoroughly. Lettuces can be used with other leaves to make a mixed salad or you could try this lovely soup. Lettuce soup This soup can be eaten hot or cold, why not try it both ways and see which one you prefer, 2 or 3 good sized lettuces, roughly chopped 40g of butter or 2 tblsp of olive oil 1 small onion or a good handful of spring onions, finely chopped 1 tblsp of flour 80 mls water, chicken or vegetable stock 3 parsley sprigs and 2 mint sprigs, finely chopped A pinch of brown sugar 300 mls full cream milk Salt and pepper to taste Melt the butter / heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chopped lettuce and onion, then stir to coat the lettuce and onion in the fat. Cover the pan and cook over a low heat until softened; this will take about 5-6 minutes. Add the flour to the pan and stir and let the flour grains cook for a few moments. Add the stock to the mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture boils. Add the sugar and herbs and then add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Whiz in a food processor, or blend by hand until smooth, then return to the pan. Meanwhile, heat the milk to boiling point, and then add the milk to the soup. Serve the soup hot, garnished with parsley or mint, or let cool and chill thoroughly serving it cold, perhaps with a lettuce salad.

Potatoes Early potatoes should be harvested when they begin to flower in July. To check if potatoes are ready, lift one plant and check the size of the potatoes. If most are only the size of marbles, leave the rest of the plants in for a few more weeks. A twice weekly soaking will help the tubers swell. You can also leave the potatoes in the ground a little longer if you are able to get into the garden over the holidays to care for them. New potatoes are yummy just washed and boiled in their skins; you could also make this potato salad: Potato Salad 900g. of firm potatoes, such as Charlotte 1 carrot, finely chopped 4 spring onions, finely chopped 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped 1 apple, peeled and finely chopped 1 tablespoon of wine vinegar enough mayonnaise to cover all the potatoes when mixed salt and pepper to taste chopped parsley or chives for decoration boil the potatoes in their skin until they are just going tender leave to cool cut into bite size pieces season with salt and pepper add the rest of the ingredients mix all together and leave the bowl covered for a 1-2 hours just before serving mix again and sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives

Eat early potatoes as soon as you harvest them Questions for investigation What is the chemical that develops in potatoes that makes them poisonous? What part of the plant is the ‘tuber’? What other plants, vegetables or flowers, grow from tubers? Learning points Growing your own potatoes is very economical. One seed tuber can produce enough potatoes to feed two, three, or even more. How many potatoes did you get from your seed tubers this year? Compare the cost of shop-bought potatoes.

Carrots Early carrots should be ready to harvest during July. Baby carrots should just pull out of the ground, if they are older you may need to gently loosen the soil with a fork before pulling them out. After digging up your carrot crop make sure you remove all of the debris so that you do not attract carrot fly. Young carrots will need a quick scrub to wash the soil off. Mature ones will need to be washed and peeled. Then you can slice, chop, dice, grate, crudité or just crunch them raw! Steaming vegetables helps to keep their flavour and nutritional value; here’s a recipe that uses steamed carrots: Spicy Carrots 450g. carrots, that are peeled and cut into 1cm slices 1 tbs. mango chutney 1 tsp. lemon juice 3/4 tsp. Dijon mustard 1 tsp. curry powder 1 tsp. unsalted butter 2 tsp. vegetable oil 1 tsp. brown sugar 1/4 cup raisins Put the carrots in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam until almost tender. Remove the carrots from the steamer and set aside. In a small bowl combine the mango chutney, lemon juice, mustard and curry powder to make the spicy glaze. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy non-stick saucepan over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, sauté the carrots for 1 minute. Stir in the brown sugar and raisins and sauté for another 1-2 minutes. Add spice mixture, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes, or until the carrots are glazed with the mixture.

Carrots are great, just pick, wash and munch

Let garlic dry out thoroughly after lifting the crop Juicy sun-ripe tomatoes

Garlic Is ready to harvest round about now, particularly if you’ve grown the early cropping varieties. Lift the bulbs out carefully and shake the soil from the roots. If you’re going to store the bulbs, let them dry off in the sun or airy shed before bringing them into the kitchen. Tomatoes You may be lucky enough to start to harvest your tomatoes from July. You can eat tomatoes fresh as you pick them (after a quick run under the tap). But they can be baked, stuffed, fried and grilled. They can be used in soups, sauces, casseroles and lots of other dishes. You can also freeze them for use in the winter.

Use herbs to add flavour to your food Mange tout peas

Herbs and other crops Herbs too are at their peak. Continue to pick them regularly, the more you pick the more they grow and can be used in all sorts of recipes to add flavour to your food. Try the following ideas or experiment yourselves to see how herbs can change the flavour of food: Mint added to the water when boiling potatoes makes them taste fantastic. Tear leaves of basil and add them to your salads. Add rosemary to lamb before you roast it. Add chopped parsley to pasta dishes. Peas and broad beans are ready to eat in July. In warmer areas, you may also be starting to pick runner beans.

Planting Out When all danger of frost has passed, it's safe to plant tender plants outside, such as tomatoes and runner beans. The date will vary according to your location but for most of the UK it is the end of May. Always have some horticultural fleece on hand so you can throw over the plants should a late frost unexpectedly be forecast. This should be enough protection.

Growing from seed outside It's easy to grow your own crops and flowers from seed. Here's what to do: Sowing in drills Break up solid lumps of soil, and remove larger stones and weeds. Rake the surface smooth, and then make a 'drill' (shallow trench). Water the bottom of the drill, and sow your seeds. Follow the instructions on the packet for sowing depth and spacing. Cover the seeds with fine soil. Mark the line of the drill with string, or put a label at each end. You may need to water the area if we have a long dry spell - seeds need moisture in order to germinate. Sowing in drifts You can also sow in 'drifts'. This works really well in long flower beds or in patches of empty ground between trees and shrubs. Prepare the ground as above Mark out an area with an outline in sand. Be adventurous! You can do circles, oblongs, or irregular shapes. Fill a clean, dry plastic bottle with dry sand, and use it to 'draw' your outline on the soil. Scatter the seeds thinly in the marked out area, and cover as above. Here's an easy way to make sowing small seeds easier: Empty the packet of seeds into a bowl. Add two or three handfuls of potting compost. Mix well so that seeds are evenly distributed in the potting compost. Take a handful of the mixture and sow in the drill, or scatter in drifts. Cover seeds as normal. The seeds will be well spaced and separated by the potting mix. An added advantage is that you'll be able to see where you've sown.

Beetroot seedling

Continue to earth up your potatoes If potatoes are exposed to daylight, they turn green, and become poisonous. To prevent this, they must be earthed up by raking the soil from between the rows up the potato shoots, leaving a few centimetres of leaf still showing. This will stop developing tubers pushing out of the soil. This task may have to be repeated several times as the potatoes grow. An alternative is to cover the entire potato growing area with a thick mulch of old hay, or straw mixed with grass cuttings. Make sure the grass has not been treated with any kind of weed killer. As the plants grow, increase the thickness of the mulch until you have about 30cm depth covering all the developing potatoes

Did you know? Earthing up means bringing soil up around the shoots, to form a mound to prevent light reaching any tubers near the surface.

Looking after your tomatoes as they grow As your tomato plants grow tall and bushy, each plant will need its own stake. Put these in position at the time of planting. Strong 120 cm long bamboo canes are the best choice. Tie the young plants to their stakes to support them even at this early stage. As they grow, continue to tie them to the stakes, this will prevent flopping and wind damage. Side shoots will appear where the leaf stalks of the plants join the stem; pinch out when they are about 3 cm long. Remove yellowing leaves, this will allow light to reach the fruit and ripen it. Once the fruit has formed, water regularly in dry weather. Harvest the fruit when they are ripe and fully coloured.

Pinch out tomato side shoots

Pest Watch Warmer weather means pests will arrive. Keep watch to see that colonies of green or blackfly don't build up. They are very fond of fresh new shoots. Beneficial pest-eaters, such as ladybirds, lacewings, and hoverflies, are still not very active. Don't let problems get out of hand. Squish pests with your fingers (wear rubber gloves – it's not so mucky!) so that when the predators do arrive they still have a food supply, but are not overwhelmed by the numbers. Nip off and bin any rolled up leaves. This is where pests can overwinter and breed, unseen and uncontrolled. Know your insects If you know about the lifecycles and food chains of the insects and creatures that live in your garden it will be really useful. You will be able to control the pests at different stages in their lifecycle. This information will also help you encourage the pests you want and they in turn will get rid of the ones you don't! Just like the ladybird

Runner bean seedling - after 8 weeks

Life cycle of a ladybird Tip: Check out our ‘How to' leaflet on Pests and Disease Teacher and student guides to controlling pests & diseases here (PDF 324Kb) In Welsh - Student guide to controlling pests & diseases here (PDF 252Kb) Also see Garden Organic's factsheet Organic Pest and Disease Control Useful factsheets from the Garden Organic website; Wildlife Gardening Flowers for the wildlife garden Attracting beneficial insects Creating a wildflower meadow Ladybirds Lacewings Organic Pest Control Aphids Carrotfly Potato pests and diseases

Learning point Find out what other aphid predators you should watch for? How will you entice them into your garden?

Things for you to do Find out about lifecycles of different insects. Think of different ways to record what you have found. Ideas - mobile, photographs, magazines, presentations, reports. Extend your research and discover the habitats of different pests and predators, and food chains which include them. You can use the Internet, CD Roms, books and our factsheets to help you. Help to attract bees to your garden There are no longer many habitats for bees in the countryside. The loss of traditional hedgerows and hay meadows, in addition to the increase in modern farming methods, have all lead to a decline in the number of wildflowers in our countryside. As a result gardens have become a haven for some bumblebees. Bumblebees need flowers throughout the spring and summer. Highly cultivated garden flowers like annual bedding plants are unsuitable as they produce little or no pollen, or keep it hidden away so that the bees are unable to collect it. Why not grow some traditional cottage garden flowers and native wildflowers in a section of your garden, then you can record the bumblebee species that you attract. Further information For more information about bumble bees and how you can help them: Go to the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust website at: www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk Factsheets from Garden Organic: Flowers for the wildlife garden Bumblebee nest boxes Attracting beneficial insects

Bumblebee Borage

Watch those weeds They'll grow faster than you think! Hoe weeds off daily if possible. Never let them flower or run to seed. One chickweed plant can produce 2000 seeds in one season! Groundsel and dandelion flowers will become fluffy seed heads even when buried in the soil! Don't put weed seeds into the compost heap. Either bin them, or collect them in batches in plastic sacks and take them to your green waste site. Weed roots can be composted once they have received the black bag treatment! Collect all weed roots in a black plastic bag Tie up the top and leave in an out-of-the-way corner Once the contents have become sludge, add to the compost heap See the Garden Organic factsheet on Mulches, weed prevention & Control

A barrowful of weeds!

Container gardening You might have no real garden. Or an area in need of smartening up. This is where containers work really well. You can grow all sorts of plants in containers – vegetables and flowers. You’ll need to plan to make sure that the containers are watered regularly, even in the holidays. Sow wild flower seeds in an old bucket and brighten up a boring corner. Herbs are also good to grow in containers. Download our ‘Growing in Containers’ leaflet (PDF 410Kb) for more information Caring for your containers Feed your containers now, to encourage good plant growth. Scrape off the top 2-3 cm of the container’s soil. Be careful not to damage any plants present. Throw this old soil onto another part of the garden. Replace with about 2cm of sieved garden compost. You can also use composted green waste, well-rotted manure or worm compost. If possible, don’t just use fertilisers, as they do nothing for the soil condition, although they feed the plants. A layer of leafmould, or another type of soil conditioner, can be applied in autumn. It will help keep the container’s soil in good condition. Water large containers weekly, smaller ones more frequently. In dry spells you may have to water more often.

Try growing in containers

Garden care over the summer Unless you're fortunate enough to have a 'garden care team', the summer holidays can be a difficult time. Growing crops can run to seed if not picked regularly. In dry spells, plants can stop growing, or die completely. Weeds can appear like magic and swamp a cleared plot. English summers are so variable that it is hard to predict what you need to plan for. Try to think of ways in which you can reduce the amount of water you use on your garden without your plants suffering.

Here are some ideas: Lift all the crops you can before the holidays start. Pumpkins will tolerate neglect as long as they have been well cared for earlier and are growing well now. If you've got tomatoes or beans growing, you'll need to organise a picking and a watering rota. These crops will begin to be ready around the end of July to early August. Mulch around all growing plants. Hay is ideal for this purpose and is easily obtainable. If your school is in a city, try the Parks Department for last year's autumn leaves. They often have a stack that can be used for mulching. Grass clippings are also useful, but NEVER use clippings from grass that has been treated with a weed killer. Ideal materials for mulching: Leafmould Old hay or straw Composted green waste Shredded and composted wood chippings No matter which mulch you choose, either wait until the soil is wet after rain, or water thoroughly before mulching. Spread a 10cm layer of your mulching material around plants. This will conserve moisture, as well as help keep weeds down. Investigation idea Cover some areas of soil with mulch and leave some areas uncovered. Compare the soil moisture and weed growth under the two different areas. Discuss if the mulching effects the way the plants grow. Don't leave soil unplanted. Valuable nutrients will be washed away and lost. Weeds will rapidly take over bare earth. If you've cleared an area after harvesting crops, or you've just started your garden and you're not yet ready to sow or plant, sow and grow a green manure. This will keep the soil covered, suppress weeds, and help increase fertility when dug in.

Learning points What does insulation do? Why should the soil be moist before you mulch? What other materials can you use to mulch with?   A grass mowings mulch will conserve soil moisture over the summer   A green manure crop will keep the soil covered, smother weeds, and improve fertility

Plants need moisture. To ensure healthy plants they will need water, especially in dry spells. Lack of moisture can stunt growth, cause flowers to drop, and vegetables to run to seed, or shrivel and die. If tomatoes go short of water they often develop a problem –blossom end rot - due to lack of calcium. Experiment for yourself – Choose a sunny day. Put drops of water onto plant leaves so the sun shines directly onto the leaf through the water. See what happens to the leaf. Try this on old leaves and young leaves, and with different plants, such as evergreens, big-leaved/small-leaved plants. What conclusions do you come to? Why not get your school council to set up a watering rota? This will mean everyone is involved and taking responsibility. It also means that if we have a dry summer one class won't end up spending all of their time watering!

Never wet plant leaves when the sun is on them - even tiny water-droplets will become hot enough to burn the leaf tissue. Learning point How can a tiny water droplet burn leaf tissue?

Try some of these ideas to help give your plants moisture; Mulch the soil surface. Remove weeds; they will be in competition for water resources with the plants/vegetables you want to grow. Put up windbreaks; they are good for sheltering plants from drying winds. Shade seedlings in hot weather. Avoid digging in dry hot weather as this increases how much soil is exposed to the sun. Digging in organic matter will help the soil to retain moisture. Alternatively use organic matter as a mulch, this will soak up the water like a sponge and prevent the water from running off the soil. Water early in the morning and late in the afternoon; this is when it is cool and there will be less evaporation. Apply water directly to the soil and not the plants. Collect as much rainwater as possible by using water butts. Avoid overwatering; this has more of a detrimental affect on plants. It will encourage the roots to search in the top few centimetres of the soil for water rather than encouraging the roots to search deeper into the soil. Carry out a puddle watch Find a puddle and measure it using a piece of string. Monitor what happens during the day. Does it get bigger? Why? Does it get smaller? Why? The discussions you will have about this will introduce the concept of the water cycle and serve as a demonstration of what happens to the water that the plants need and why we need to ensure they are kept moist.

Paper mulch around tomato plants Green mulch around comfrey plants Try to hoe every day to keep the weeds away.

Indoor activities Great idea for a rainy day The vegetable quiz Why not try the vegetable quiz? Check the latest newsletter for member schools password to the vegetable quiz. Click here to go to the Vegetable Quiz

Have a go at the Veg Quiz

Keeping up to date with your garden diary This is a good time of year to add to your garden diary. If you made entries as you planted the garden out you will be able to make notes on what has grown and any problems you may have had. Discuss how you can avoid these problems next year. Take lots of photographs of your garden now, as this will remind you how your garden looked during the summer when you start to make plans for next year. You could use this opportunity to write to us or photocopy pages from your garden diary and let us know what you have been doing in the garden. You might be a winner in our “How does your garden grow” competition! More details on this year's competition can be found here

Make a recipe book There will be a bumper crop of vegetables available from your garden now so why not get creative and use the produce to make up lots of different recipes. Try different combinations of herbs and vegetables to decide which you like and which go well together. Work out the amounts of each vegetable that you need. You can use standard measurements like grams and kilograms or non-standard like a handful or a pinch. Practise writing instructions, you could hand write them, or use a computer. Look through lots of recipe books and on the Internet for ideas. Don’t forget to include all of the ingredients, utensils, sizes of equipment and the method. Use a digital camera to photograph all of the stages of preparation and the finished dish. You could also use diagrams as part of your instructions. Play with words and invent an intriguing name for your dish. Design the front cover of your book and put all your recipes together. Send them to us so that we can share them with other schools on our website.

Start to do some planning By sowing and planting at the right time, you can be eating your own, homegrown produce all year round. Use the Cook’s Garden Planner, our website, the internet and your school calendar to plan the year ahead. Work out who’s going to do what and when. Make up a rota for regular jobs. Start to plan ahead; what seeds will you sow in the Autumn and Spring? Look through the Organic Gardening Catalogue for some inspiration. Perhaps you could think about growing some unusual varieties or vegetables you have not tasted before. Keep records of what and when you sowed. Take photos of your garden regularly to record your year-round progress. Record crop yields and find graphic ways to report them.

Why are vegetables important in a healthy diet? Eat 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables a day is something we are frequently being told. But do you know why? Vegetables are packed full of vitamins and minerals that help us to maintain a healthy immune system, metabolism and red blood cells. Why not be a health detective and explore the web, books or leaflets from local groups or authorities and find out which vegetables contain which vitamins and minerals. Looking at all the jobs they do it is pretty amazing. Did you know phosphorus found in asparagus, okra and onions is needed for forming bones, teeth and nerves? Taste tests Either use produce from your garden or from an organic or local source. Take two varieties of a vegetable. Cut them into similar sized pieces. Give pupils three pieces; two the same and 1 different. Can they spot the odd one out? Discuss differences that the pupils spot and why that may be.

Plan and Design a Seating Area for you Garden Outside seating areas are great in a school garden; they offer a place to reflect and think, an area to socialise and make new friends, or a place to take a well-deserved break after gardening. Think about the seating that already exists and how you could improve it. How many seats will you need and what shape and style would you like them to be. Think of what materials you could use. Can you re-use any materials no longer needed to make your seats? Design your seating and make scale models. Look in books, magazines and in the gardens of friends and relatives for ideas.

Design a seating area

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