EP339- Seed Sowing Guide For July: Stop Treating July Like The Finish Line

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Seeds Ireland High Quality Seeds: See link below for listener offer. 

https://seedsireland.ie/master

July is where a lot of edible gardens quietly lose momentum and it’s exactly why so many plots run out of steam in autumn. We’re keeping it simple and practical with a July seed sowing guide that helps you stay productive well beyond summer, even if your beds look full and you’re half in holiday mode.

We talk through what’s genuinely worth sowing now for succession and speed: salad leaves like lettuce, spinach, rocket and spring onions, plus quick wins like radish and turnips. We also cover the “last chance” feel of July for crops such as beetroot and carrots, and how choosing the right timing and varieties sets you up for lifting and eating later in the year. If your germination has struggled in the heat, we share straightforward fixes, including avoiding trays baking in direct sun and keeping watering steady.

The big focus is on brassicas for overwinter harvests and early spring rewards, from autumn cabbage and savoy to calabrese, kale, cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli. We also get into the unglamorous but crucial side of mid-summer growing: protecting seedlings from cabbage white butterfly with netting, keeping polytunnels ventilated, watering tomatoes properly, and staying vigilant for aphids, slugs returning after rain, and potato blight warnings. There’s also a useful run-through of herbs you can still sow now and a list of flower seeds that can keep your borders moving.

If you want your vegetable garden, polytunnel, or allotment to produce for as close to 12 months as possible, this is the moment to act. Subscribe, share the episode with a gardening mate, and leave a review with the one crop you’re committing to sow this July.

Transcript

Welcome And Sponsor Mention

SPEAKER_00 0:12

How's it going everybody and welcome to episode 339 of Master My Garden Podcast. Now, this week's episode being the first Friday of July, we're looking at the seed sowing guide for the month ahead. And it's you know it's quite an important month for sowing seed. It's the one month that probably people stop sowing or are very sporadic with their sowing, but it's actually a really important one in terms of having produce later in the year. So we'll get into the full list now shortly. But before we do, a special mention for this week's sponsor, Seeds Ireland. So aptly sponsoring our seed sowing guide. And Seeds Ireland is an Irish company which sells a huge range of vegetable seeds, herb seeds, flower seeds. And I've used them for a good while, as I've mentioned on the podcast before. They're really, really good germination rates, fast delivery anywhere in Ireland, and you know, really good reviews, so five-star reviews on both Google and Trustpilot. So, you know, a company that is well recognized and they they are of the highest quality. So yeah, excellent range. They also do a lot of sundries and things as well. You get your bulbs, your you know, your onion sets and so on at various times of the year. So large range to choose from and an Irish company, so great to support them. But on top of that, as I say, you know, good reviews on Trustpilot, fast delivery, high germination rates, and all those things. So uh check out Seeds Ireland. I'll put the link in the show notes.

Why July Sowing Still Matters

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Uh so the seed sewing guide, as I mentioned, this is a really important month, and it's a month where obviously schools, you know, they're all finished now, all of the exams are finished, and people are very, very much in holiday mode. And it's also a month where your vegetable beds are still quite full. And I suppose what has happened over the last number of years is the the drive from retail to you know get your vegetable plans out and all that, they're all earlier and earlier than you know than they used to be. And people now have a kind of a sense that once you hit July, you know, the season is finished, it's too late. And it definitely, you know, it couldn't be further from the truth in terms of you know, in terms of capturing the autumn and the winter. Uh in fact, it's it's really in July is a really important month because as I say, a lot of people will stop sewing, or they'll forget to sew, or they'll feel that it's too late. And you know, not sewing this month means you're going to have gaps at the back end of the year. So this is a really, a really important month. It's also, you know, it's a month where you have to be kind of after sowing, you have to be really, really vigilant in terms of watering. You know, we've mentioned that a couple of weeks ago on the podcast as well. Um, but it's also a point where you have probably a lot of your beds are really, really full. So you're you know, all of your your early sewing crops are going to be there. And if you are tight on space, then you probably have crops that are ready or nearly ready, and you're thinking, My beds are full here, but they will be coming out, and it's good to have something coming behind it. Uh so as I say, seed sowing in July can get forgotten about, but it's hugely important if you want to extend your harvest right into the into the you know the autumn and even into the winter and spring.

Salad Leaves And Successional Sowing

SPEAKER_00 3:41

So we'll look at the list, uh, go through it. This, you know, it's going to cover a lot of what you can sow. Um, won't be absolutely everything, but it'll be certainly a lot of them. So we have all our usual suspects here still. So the the ones that we're repeat sowing throughout the year, your lettuce, anyone that was sowing seeds of lettuce over the last few weeks might have found it tricky because of the really, really high temperatures. But now is a good time. If you find that it's really, really hot in your polytunnel or your greenhouse, then sew them somewhere in a little bit of shade. Um, not full shade, but you know, where they're not getting direct sunlight, they they won't germinate at re you know in really high temperatures. So something around 18 or 20 degrees is lovely and they'll germinate fine. So somewhere where they're not getting baked in the tray is is a good place to sow at this stage. Uh, spinach, we're going to be repeat sowing because you will find, and I'm sure you're all seeing it, at this stage of the year, you get such a small short window between sowing and harvest of spinach because it'll run to seed and bolt very, very quickly. So the the idea here is that we sow and we continuously sow. Uh so spinach is another one that we can sow this month. Rocket is another one. Uh, personally, I'm not sewing rocket because I have perennial rocket that just keeps giving all the time, it's brilliant. Uh so rocket is another one that you can sew. Spring onion again, it's going to be on the list every month. You can start to do as we move through this month and next month, you can start to do larger sewings, you know, so you can sew a little bit more. Um and they'll hold, you know, they'll hold reasonably well. You can start harvesting at the really small stage, and then over a longer period of time you can harvest sort of the bigger ones. So if you if you prefer the really the really small, really fresh ones, then sew more regular, but if you don't mind you know harvesting bigger ones and you know allowing them to get a little bit stronger, even in taste, they will get a little bit stronger, then that's fine to you know sew bigger batches of them. Uh autumn leaves is another one that we'll start sewing. It'll be more towards the middle, maybe the third week of the month. And we're looking at things like uh rocket, mustard, uh, mezunas, those autumn leaves, those autumn salads, and the lettuce. You know, they're the ones that we're going to be sowing now. And this is this is where you're looking at your autumn harvest at this stage.

Root Crops With Time Left

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Um, on to sort of root vegetables, and you know, we're kind of at the last chance to sow some of these things like beetroot. We can definitely get another sewing in of those. Uh, I did my sowing outside only a few weeks ago, and they're germinated fine. Then I'll have um I'll do an autumn sewing, but or a later sowing, but that'll be for the tunnel, and you know, you hopefully get an autumn and possibly overwinter harvest there of beetroot. Uh, carrot is another one. Again, you get another, you know, this kind of last opportunity to to sow carrots, and you're you're really looking at the autumn stroke winter varieties at this stage. Uh, turnips, the likes of the snowball or the Milan Purple Tops, any of those type ones that you can sew them, and we'll continue to sew them for another little while because they do form quite quickly. Some people love them, some people hate them. Um, a little bit like radish for me. I dip in and out of them, I like them at certain times, then kind of get fed up with them and then stop for a while and then sew them again. So turnip is another one, Milan Purple Top and Snowball, that type of varieties, the little small ones. Uh, next one on the list is radish, again, same thing. They'll germinate quickly, they will be available to harvest very, very quickly, and uh yeah, we'll have them on the list for the next few weeks. So they again they'll a little bit like the spinach, maybe not as quick, but along those lines, they will sort of run to seed and get too big too quick and they'll go woody on you. Um, but you can still sow radishes this month. Uh then

Brassicas For Winter And Spring

SPEAKER_00 7:46

we're looking at some of the brassicas, and really important month for brassicas because they they're the ones that you know that are going to be hardy through the winter, they're the ones that are going to be available for late harvest and right through the winter and into the spring. So we're looking at things like cabbage, the autumn cabbages, the savai cabbages. Um, they're the ones that we'll be sowing in this month. And you know, we're we're going to get a harvest that will be very much into the late autumn, winter on some of these, and then even into next spring on some. So cabbage, autumn varieties, and savai cabbages sown out. Purple sprout and broccoli. This will now at this stage, because of the length of season that they require, it's most likely that you're going to be into you know past Christmas time for a harvest of these ones. You will have an earlier harvest from some of the earlier ones that we've sown. But purple sprout and broccoli for next spring, and when that comes available to harvest next spring, it's such a lovely, welcome, um, fresh harvest, which at that time of the year is exactly what you need. So it's uh yeah, it's it's really worthwhile sewing those this month. Remember that some of these are going to require a lot of space, but you will have that space coming up because you'll have your harvests, you know, your potatoes will be coming out, your onions will be coming out, and so on. Uh, calibrees is another one that you can sew. So that's your your sort of referred to as broccoli here, but it's calibrees that can be sewn this month. Kale is another one. Um I will be moving away from I don't sew kale very often, I do kind of once a year, and some years I don't sew it at all. Um, but I have switched to perennial kale now. Uh a couple of couple of types of perennial kale, and I'm hoping that you know not to be sewing that that regularly. Uh cauliflower again, we're looking at autumn, autumn varieties, and they're going to give you harvests, you know, sort of later in the in the I guess September-ish timing, uh, thereabouts, September, maybe into early October. Uh, swish chard, another one. Again, I I only do you know one or maximum two sewings of this a year, but I'll sew that now. That will get planted into the polytunnel later on, and then that will be giving me so it'll get a chance to grow over the next couple of months, and then into next spring I'll be able to harvest that as spring greens uh and stalks early in the springtime. Pack chai and colrabi, another two that can be sowed at this time of the year to really pack chai is one that I just haven't had much success with. It keeps get keeps getting eaten by a little beetle, um, but nice, you know, nice again, a little bit like chard, you have that nice um crunch and greens off them for the for the autumn and winter. Kohl rabi is another one that we saw this month. French beans, technically speaking, people will say it's a little bit late, but French beans at this stage of the year, with the heat that we have, will come ready very, very quickly. So, French beans, whether that's the you know the climbing type or the bush type, they will germinate quickly, they will grow very, very quickly, and they will produce a crop very, very quickly at this stage of the year. So, you can still definitely sow French beans. Peas is another one. Again, the speed of of coming to harvest will be a lot faster at this stage of the year, so we can definitely do another sewing of those. Uh, chicory is something else that can be sowed. I personally don't sew it, but you can sow this month, and again, that will give you you know that that late autumn into winter uh greens and another another welcome sort of salad-y type um leaves at that stage of the year. Pretty much all of the herbs can still be sowed. Um, herb seeds, you know, I generally I will sow basil, obviously, because it's kind of a repeat sowing. I sow parsley once a year, but a lot of the rest of them, like for example, rosemary, you kind of only need for family, you kind of only need maybe one or two plants uh to ensure that you have same with thyme, same with sage, you only need one or two plants to ensure that you have continuous fresh supply. So sometimes it might be easier to just buy a plant or two as opposed to sowing seed, because you put you know you're gonna get a lot of seed in a packet. But do you need for the likes of a rosemary, do you need ten rosemary plants? You probably don't. It likely is one is good enough. So for some of those ones you might just pick a plant, um, but all of those seeds can be sown out. So herbs, coriander, chervil, dill, parsley, basil, rosemary, sage, any of those can be sowed in in this month. Um so you'd see that's that's kind of the list. It's it's a lot smaller in terms of the edible garden, it's a lot smaller than other months, and it will reduce further gone into next month. But just to highlight again, it is really a really important month to sow because it's what'll give you that extension into the season. And as mentioned loads of times before, if we're gonna if we're gonna create these beds, if we're gonna have this edible garden, we might as well utilize the space for as close to 12 months of the year as possible. And by sowing at this stage of the year, that's how you do that, that's how you get that extension, and that's how you get those later harvests. So just to shoot over that list again, we're looking at all the usual. So these are the ones that are on every list every month. Um, we have our leaves, our s and we're switching to autumn leaves at this stage, but you know, your your salad leaves basically, your spring onion, your rocket, your spinach, lettuce, they're kind of your salad y types, they're your successional ones. Then we're looking at root vegetables, beetroot, carrot, last opportunity, turnip, again the snowball, the Milan purple tops, and radishes. Then herbs, coriander, chervil, dill, parsley, uh, basil, rosemary, sage, all of those. Um basically any any herb can be sowed this month. So they're included on the list. Brassicas

Protecting Crops From Pests

SPEAKER_00 14:10

are really important month for brassicas because brassicas are something that will be perfectly comfortable growing outside, maturing outside, right into the into the late autumn and winter, and even through to next spring. We'll have to watch out obviously for cabbage white butterfly. That's going to be, you know, you're probably going to have to net those. Uh one here I have a problem at the moment, or it's not a big problem, I'm not particularly worried about it, but uh pigeons have really taken a liking to new growth on broccoli plants. So I have a bit of a liking for pigeons, so I'm not overly worried. There's there's two pigeons visit the garden the whole time. Um and they do and they are picking the the growing points out of the broccoli or the calibrees. And they're there's a good chance that they're not going to form any sort of a head, but I'm not overly worried about it. Um whether they do or they don't, hopefully they will, but that's where I have the issue at the minute. But the the cabbage white um butterfly is one that you would definitely over the next few months you'd want to be protecting a little bit from. So using something like EnviroMesh or the you know that that sort of netting that will butterfly netting will keep them away and get them established. You'll need something tall because if you were putting the likes of purple sprouting broccoli underneath it, you're talking about something that's going to go to you know 80, 90, 100 centimetres, maybe even a little bit taller. So you're gonna need quite a tall structure over them. But it's it's kind of it's where people often get caught. They very, very quickly they will sow their brassicas and then go back and they're they're they're cleaned out of it, they're destroyed. So anyway, this the seeds in the brassicas, cabbage, autumn, and savai, purple sprout and broccoli, calibre's, uh, kale, cauliflower, and again, we're Leo, for any of those, we're switching to autumn and winter varieties at this stage. And we have Swiss chard, brilliant one, uh, really worth having in the garden if you don't have it. Looks looks quite nice as well, so visually is good. Uh pack chai, coal rabi, french beans, peas, chicory, uh, and that's kind of you know the majority of the edibles that we can sow this month.

Flower Seeds And Grow Along Plan

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Um, flowers then, because last year I did the grow along, and from my perspective, it was quite successful in terms of you know the plants that was produced. Uh, what wasn't successful was my follow-on videos. Um, in terms of I did a couple of good videos at the start and uh probably didn't do them afterwards and need to. So I might do a proper, you know, proper uh grow along this year where we take it step by step and take you through uh sowing of your seeds, germination, show the different stages, and then the you know the final act of potting them on and then planting them out into the garden. So do it over over a season. But it's a a brilliant way of producing a lot of plants, you know, a lot of plants for uh a relatively small budget. So if you have a big area to cover or whatever, it's it's brilliant for that. And they're so so easy. And timing-wise, it probably started a little bit late last year, so we'll we'll go at it a little bit earlier and do a proper, proper sow along. Um but seeds that we can be sowing this month, uh flower seeds, just some of them will the the list of these will actually increase as we go into August and early September. But uh we'll be starting to move into some of the perennials at this stage. But the likes of Sweet William, Canangela, Foxgloves, Wallflowers, Larkspur, some of the annuals is still not late, not too late, cosmos, because it'll just germinate and grow so fast. Sunflower the same, uh, zinnias, stock, you know, basically all of those can still be sown this month, and you will get you know flower out of them. Wallflowers is one that's very underrated, beautiful flower. Uh some of them are really nicely scented, and yeah, it's one that kind of was a little bit old-fashioned as well, but it it does really, really well and gives a flower gives a flower at a time of the year where there isn't, you know, there's another wild amount else that's flowering. So they're they're a really good one to cover. Um, but definitely will do a proper, you know, proper grow along uh in a couple of weeks' time, taking in a lot of the perennials, and that'll give you the opportunity to grow a lot of plants for you know where you're putting maybe a little bit of effort in over a couple of times of the year and then producing quite a lot of plants for yourself. So yeah, we'll definitely do that in a more structured way this season.

Polytunnel Care And July Garden Wins

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Um so that's basically the the seed sowing guide for the month ahead. It's um quite an important month, as I said, just really highlighting that again because it is a month where we a lot of us will just walk away from our gardens, forget about sowing seed. But if you do these little sowings, you will have harvests in the autumn time. And when those harvests come in the autumn time, they are so much appreciated because, you know, as I say, you've gone into that winter period, uh, autumn winter period, and to get something fresh, to have something fresh coming in from the garden at that stage is just magical. And taste-wise, it'll be a nice surprise, and we you know it's it's ideal and really, really worth doing. So keep sowing this month. Other things to watch out for keep your polytunnels ventilated, watering is hugely important on all your tomatoes and so on. Um pests, potentially a problem at the moment. I mentioned my pigeons, but um you have the likes of aphids, potentially with the heat that we're having, can be a problem. So just be vigilant on all these things. Slugs coming and going. Sometimes the really dry weather they disappear, then we get a little bit of rain with the heat, and then they come back again. So slugs are coming and going across the year, but generally slugs are not as much of a problem as they were say six or eight weeks ago. Um they they seem to be less prevalent. Um cabbage white butterfly, watch out for, and potato blight, warning again this week here on those. So, yeah, there's there's lots of things to be vigilant for, but that's just part of the process. We're keeping an eye out, uh keeping your tomatoes growing well, watering, you know, we've mentioned before, water in the morning time, water onto the ground, do your pruning if possible in the morning time to allow the plant to dry out, and that'll just help with diseases. Airflow, circulation through the house, hugely important, ventilation. Uh that will again make make sure that you've you've less buildup of disease problems. So, yeah, really, really good, really good month ahead, lots of harvest coming in, and a really important month to keep sowing. From my own garden this this week, uh delighted to get the first harvest of Charlotte potatoes from the polytunnel combined with the peas from outside and the carrots from the polytunnel, it's gorgeous, gorgeous little harvest. And uh yeah, the potatoes, the Charlotte is gorgeous, absolutely beautiful potato. I this year I've just grown you know kind of early varieties. Again, I've mentioned before, you know, if you go away for a week or two uh in in the summer for your holidays or whatever, you don't want to be coming back and having uh you know the likes of your potatoes with blight or whatever there is, blight-free varieties, which I've used before. Um, but this year I just have the early varieties, the the Charlotte, and I have a few British Queens, and I have what else have I? A couple of different varieties anyway, but they're all they're all the early ones and harvesting now, and they're just absolutely gorgeous. Uh eating too much butter with them, of course, but that's uh that's part of the pleasure this time of the year. So that's the seed sowing guide for the month ahead. The I suppose the overall point is keep sowing, keep looking for opportunities to have later harvests, and uh yeah, it's uh it's an important month. Uh, huge thanks before we sign off to this week's sponsor, which is Seeds Ireland. You'll find a link to them in the show notes. And uh that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening, and I'll tell the next time. Happy garden, I think.