It’s the season of peak harvests, meaning also beds coming empty, with opportunities to re-sow and re-plant.
July is the peak month for growth, because days are still long and it’s normally warmer than June. Seize every moment to keep up with growth so that autumn will be more enjoyable, and your garden will then be full of food.
Coming ready to harvest now or soon is a veritable cornucopia of vegetables. From melons, cucumber, tomatoes, and aubergine, to carrots, beetroot, salads of many kinds, onions, early potatoes, and more.
Sow any of Florence fennel, kohlrabi, chicory, lettuce, endive, carrots, broccoli for spring, salad onions, and collards.
Then in late July, Chinese cabbage and winter radish.
August is a top time to sow spinach, salad rocket, mizuna, pak choi and turnips.
Use mesh covers on new sowings and plantings for protection against insects, rabbits and more.
The advice on watering is just my perspective. I know that there are many other ways to water. My main aim is to make sure all water goes to plant roots and is not wasted on weeds or empty spaces.
See my July video of last year for more on watering, https://youtu.be/_iNsxi8nVx4.
See also my Essential Knowledge pack https://charlesdowding.co.uk/products/essential-knowledge-foundations-for-success?
Up to 14th July, the dig / no dig trial beds have given harvests of 30.54kg and 35.67kg respectively.
Filmed at Homeacres no dig garden by Nicola Smith, on 13th July 2026.
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00:00 Introduction – second early potatoes and squash
01:03 Asparagus
01:43 New plantings – beetroot under cover
02:05 Carrots, poor seed quality
02:32 Lettuce, watering
03:13 Beetroot – watering, and cover against rabbits
03:36 Flea beetle damage
04:13 New pantings of radicchio and endive, second planting lettuce
00:44 Carrots re-sown after being eaten by rabbit – watering
05:51 Weather – dry and hot
06:09 Runner beans, not setting through lack of moisture – timing of watering
06:51 The finished pyramid!
07:22 Bindweed removal
08:35 Celeriac
09:11 Compost – chopping stems, proportion of green/brown, watering
10:17 8-month-old compost
10:51 Onions at different stages of maturity
11:35 Tomatoes
11:48 More flea beetle damage – brassica seedlings
12:19 Swede and kale under Thermacrop
12:48 Maincrop potato, Desiree – watering
13:08 Leeks – late sowing, multisown
13:38 Tomatoes in the polytunnel – watering, overhead line
14:10 Oxheart beef tomatoes
14:52 Melons – no need to support, how to know when ripe, different ways of growing
16:12 Aubergines – removing sideshoots, bacterial rot and red spider mite predator
17:17 Cucumbers, watering needs
17:54 Dahlias
18:08 Squash, and celtuce
19:01 Propagation in the greenhouse – beetroot and brassica seedlings
19:41 Own-design module trays
19:52 Celery seedlings, ready to prick out
20:11 Options for sowing French beans
20:25 Sowings of brassicas – broccoli, Romanesco – potting on
20:51 No feed, good potting mix
21:19 Sowings of endive, lettuce, red cabbage
21:57 More sowing options – fennel, kohlrabi
22:27 Watermelon and melon – growing options, importance of starting early
23:56 Tomatoes, de-leafing
25:02 Outside – celery, different sowings
25:30 Dig/no dig trial beds – harvest comparison
26:05 Onions, ready to harvest
26:55 Celeriac – difference between beds
27:36 Beetroot interplanted with spring onions
27:53 Sweetcorn
28:43 A question to viewers!
#nodig #july #gardentour #vegetablegarden #sowing #growyourown #CharlesDowding
31 Comments
Hi, thanks for all your videos! 😊 I have a big request, though: could you include Polish subtitles? I’m unable to watch them right now. I think there are other Poles here who would appreciate it too. Best regards 🙂
We have a hosepipe ban in Lincolnshire 😩
Looks wonderful. Looking forward to a melon tasting video this year. I find starting seeds in a tray helps alleviate pest damage to seedlings when direct sown. Pest pressure is strong this time of year.
I've given up on melons. Not having a greenhouse, the slugs will always eat them when they start smelling good, but at a stage when they don't even taste that sweet yet… And I don't generally have a slug problem 🤷♀️
Today I sowed
– kohlrabi (favorite: Azur Star),
– pak choi (only Joy Choi variety has ever worked for me)
– Chinese cabbage (new favorite variety is Scarlette F1, which has an amazing purple color and is quite resistant to bolting even for spring sowings)
– kale (Red Russian and Nero di Toscana)
– swedes (Helenor is the only variety I've ever gotten a decent harvest from)
I guess it's already a bit late for kale and swedes, but the first batch didn't make it. I think I've had very poor (bought) compost this year, not enough nutrients by the looks of all the plants I started in it…
Love your garden tours Charles!!! Everything looks amazing even with the challenge of dry conditions! It’s been incredibly dry here in the western US as well, but what’s a little help with the plants can still thrive. Thanks for the fun update!
Wow what a wonderful tour thanks Charles , I’ve just sown my brassicas and some French beans , I’ve had a truly bountiful summer , but with this being my first year I got so distracted by fighting bindweed I let my succession sowing fall to the way side, something I really need to work on for next year. But with you guiding me I’m sure next year will be even more abundant than this one 😊 take care
ornamental cabbage for winter cheer. lots of what you listed.
We're going to sow French beans and more peas today!
I am really struggling here in the Poitou Charente. So hot and no rain. I have been watering my dwarf beans but I am not seeing the flowers form yet. Onions have done well. Early potato plants were burned to a crisp with very small return. Melons ( on the ground) doing well and some very giant potiron, tromboncino and butternut squash..Cant get spinach or carrot sowings going since June. I have mulched with straw which is saving everything from dying. Water reserves now empty. We really need rain.beetroot done ok, and fennel and chard .
I sewed purple sprouting broccoli and because of the flea beetle infestation of my brassicas I’ve got five or six sprout plants and one purple sprouting broccoli. I’m going to pot them on as you suggested to keep them out of harms way and plant them in August when I think the time is right and they are big enough.
My runner beans suffered as yours did and I’ve only just started watering them too so great to hear that we’re all having similar problems
just put in some golden rod wax beans, easy to find all the beans because of the golden color.
THE PYRAMID ROCKS !!!!! 🤘🤘🤘🤘
I am devastated. I am doing no dig first year. First I grew the healthiest and well fed slugs and now word got around and the flea beetles made my plot the vacation destination of the year.
But I will continue and will sow whatever seeds I still have this weekend and refill any empty spots.
But I swear next year the abundance of veggies will make the newspaper in my town. Cause if nothing else is succeeding, my compost turned out amazingly.
Thank you Charles for inspiring me and sharing all your knowledge with me.
Best wishes from Baumholder , Germany
Btw I am giving Nematodes a try. Hope it works
Hello Charles and thank you for this beautiful tour! I just sowed tuscan kale and rainbow chard…. I can't sow much more cause I only have a small balcony! It's a hapiness to watch your videos! Thanks!!!
Great to see you enjoying your garden despite the challenges Charles. Here in Switzerland we've had temperatures consistently between 32 and 38 °C for about a month. I have healthy looking outdoor tomatoes, cucumbers and courgette plants but very little or no fruit on them. What is causing this – lack of pollinators? or do high temperatures inhibit fruit setting?? Do you have any solutions / suggestions?
My rabbits eat carrots AND the mesh cover! Lucky you that you can sow lettuce in July, because where I live (Italy) this year it is so hot since May, that lettuce keeps dying.
My purple pak choi has been attacked by flee beetles it looks very interesting but I have been cooking them anyway. I have also noticed clover being eaten which is curious.
Lovely wander through Homeacres Garden!! I was sent a MembersOnly video today (16.July.2026). We're sowing Okra (3 cvs), more Beetroot, Chard, Onions, and trying out Thai Pink tomato. Cheers, Charles!! 👋💚🌱🌞
When did you sow your melons, mine are still very small in a pot
Hi Charles, thought you'd be interested to know about my trial with sheep fleece. I put it round my strawberries and I've had the best ones this year but I found my squash plants were being decimated by snails so I put fleece round them and they literally doubled in size in a few days and are now romping away. It's worked so well I am now putting it round all my brassicas too. It doesn't stop caterpillars sadly but it's fantastic with regards to slugs and snails. Also, I haven't planted out my leeks yet! I have clumps in pot and keep potting them up as I have nowhere to put them yet – do you think they'll be ok or have I missed the boat?!
Had an evening of sowing seeds in two trays and gone to town. French and runner beans, sugar snap peas, pak choi, lettuce, kohl rabi, spring onion, daikon radish, Florence fennel and some cucumbers. Phew!
Wow, 36° heat like us here in the Caribbean
If you catch the Rabbits, then Rabbit stew will be a brilliant meal. It will stop them eating your veg and great for sustinance.
Why not plant some flowers or say garlic/onions that the pests will eat therefore keeping them away from what you want as an end goal. Just a thought squire.
I'm on my 3rd attempt at growing asparagus (seeds have just germinated 🥳) and my man here is actively picking asparagus 'weeds'…. 😭😭😭
Enjoyed this walkthrough… 🐝 We sowed kale early July & popped up within a week! The bulb fennel sown at same tine has yet to appear, too hot for germination? Also, trying watercress again, March sowings bolted. Butternut have been rampant climbers, mainly male flowers, few fruits. It's frustrating to have lots of leafy salad crops but no tomatoes, however raw baby courgettes add a lovely crunch. Amazed by my mini cucumbers. Never tried melons, but am inspired…☀️
A wonderful tour Charles!
It has been VERY challenging watering and I feel for you when you have so much to water. Your pyramid….ahh! Have you sat in there yet? Great for reharmonising 🙏🏼
I have a concern of my own, Eucalyptus trees! 🤦🏻♂️
Looking great even in this challenging weather
Took on an acre last August in Herefordshire, waist high grass and dead trees. Cleared the lot and followed your no dig methods Charles. Right now the kitchen garden is producing prolifically. I walk the plot every morning and pick out the very few, isolated weeds. Follow your sowing dates from your calendar. Thanks to your videos, I have mastered the inter planting and having replacement crops ready to go in as spent crops are removed. And the farmer over the road is now dropping off bucket loads of good quality muck for my autumn mulch. Visited Homeacres two years ago and we had a good chat, so thanks for your excellent work Charles, my garden is a thing of beauty with no little help from you. Just planted pea Terrain for the first time.🤞👍
Love watching your videos, always very informative, and how productive your crops are.
I've got to ask, what variety of sun flowers do you have you got growing, they look fantastic.