HOME EDITION
JULY
GARDEN GROW? How does your Anna Taylor, owner of Anna’s Flower Farm in Audley End, shares what’s going on in the garden this month W e are nearing the end of the growing year and school’s out for summer – yet we are only halfway
through. There is little to define July beyond the memories of halcyon days; egg- and-spoon races, plump sweet strawberries, billowing fields of golden barley, ice creams by the river and welcome shade from the ancient trees. It’s a mid-year crescendo. Bar successional sowings of beetroot, carrots and radishes with salad leaves and certainly basil – always basil – there is little else I sow this month. A welcome breather after a month of propagation. The big push between March and June is over now; more time in the hammock, more watering with a cold drink in your hand. It doesn’t matter what didn’t get done; for now I take in and enjoy what did. July continues to be a big harvest month: thankfully, stems are tougher than their spring cousins, with far less searing going on for conditioning flowers, and quicker cutting too. Showstoppers will be the elegant foxtail lily (eremurus), scented lilies and alliums – but for midsummer, there are few focal blooms. Rose flushes will slow (cut back now for more in September), and perhaps some foxgloves with dahlias beginning to flower. July is a jumble of meadow-style annuals and clutches of smaller stems for ‘bung in a jug’
July is the best time to plan; right from where you sit
kitchen table arrangements. Some of my favourites are coreopsis, cephalaria, gaura, scabious and multi-stemmed sunflowers in lilac, golds, plums, dark pink and browns. All of these continue to flower for months if you keep deadheading. Flowers compete in performance with heady release of scent in a ‘pollinate me! pollinate me!’ cry, and our gain is long summer nights with tobacco flowers, honeysuckles, jasmine and sweet peas filling the night air with heady fragrance. Enjoy these with the two essentials this month: firstly, a weekly deep watering of all plants (daily for pots). Encourage strong water seeking stable roots by not watering until you see fresh growth on newly planted seedlings (water well the night before). Watering little and often will breed soft, sappy growth and weak plants reliant on the gardener, prone to pest attack. Secondly, the other essential task is to eat outside as often as possible. Bring the garden to the plate too, with many flowers
being pretty as well as edible; cornflower is a favourite pinched off and petals pulled, sprinkled over salads and into drinks for a delightful garnish. Also good are snapdragons, borage, anchusa, nasturtiums and calendula with herb tops of mint, basil and dill sitting pretty on cakes. I love the delayed gratification of effort in anticipation of July, and enjoy it from the hammock as bats dance above me in the long-lasting evening light and inky-blue summer nights – when it’s never truly dark. July is the best time to plan; right from where you sit. Forget about January nights by the fire and seed catalogues. Look at your garden right now. Where are there gaps? Where would climbers or small fruit trees add height, shape and punctuation marks? Which seeds worked, which did not? I have a wish list on my phone of plants I’d like, seeds to try and good ideas from gardens I’ve seen; it serves as great inspiration. Gardens never stay still, but this month you can – and plan the next.
MEADOW FLOWERS Many small annual flowers peek out in July – perfect for a tiny table arrangement. Photos by Anna Taylor
82 JULY 2023 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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