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Undercover

August can be a pivotal month in the greenhouse and polytunnel. Summer crops should be at their zenith with plenty of sun to ripen fruits to perfect sweetness. Autumn crops should be growing rapidly to pick up any slack over the next few months. Make sure foliage is controlled to allow air and light to reach maturing fruits. Water and harvest regularly and, more than ever, watch out for those diseases that love a warm humid environment.

Hot tip for the month

So many tomatoes are ready for harvesting in August that it can be hard to know what to do with the surplus. Chutneys, sauces and pickles are options of course, but who wants to work in a hot kitchen if the day is glorious outside?
It’s time to put the freezer to good use. Tomatoes can be frozen whole on trays; you can even put trusses of ripe fruit into the freezer straight from the plant. These can be bagged up once they are frozen and used as needed.

Peppers

Some sweet peppers will be ready to pick in August and they may start to colour up. Don’t be afraid to pick a few at the green stage. Many more should follow through the months ahead.
Remember to support the limbs of plants that are bearing a heavy crop. Feed such plants every 10 days or so with a liquid feed and if the month is dull, lay strips of aluminium foil on the ground to reflect more sun.
Chilli peppers are slower to produce fruit than their sweeter relatives. They also need plenty of sun to build up a hot taste. Give chillies a good sunny position and they will produce fiery little monsters up until the hard frosts kick in.

Sweetcorn

Plants should be tall and sturdy with swelling cobs along the stems. Some will ripen one cob, others two and occasionally, in our climate, a plant will ripen three.

A certain amount of this is down to variety, early sowing, feeding, or how warm the weather is, but there also seems to be an element of luck. If you find a variety that regularly gives two or more cobs in your particular growing conditions, then make a note and stick with it. Growing under cover is all about maximising the crop you can get from a small space.

Sweetcorn sown in April will be ready for eating in August. The silks at the end of the cob turn brown and the cob itself should feel full and firm. If in doubt about ripeness, peel back the outer leaves and press a thumbnail into a kernel. A clear liquid means the cob isn’t quite ready. A milky liquid means it is perfect. No liquid means the cob is long past its best. Corn comes ready in a glut. Eat it fresh every day for a couple of weeks with no more than a half hour from garden to pan. It’s a real taste of the summer, so binge and enjoy and don’t let any of those golden beauties go to waste.

 

Tomatoes

The crop should really be rolling in with the big beefsteak varieties ripening along with all other sizes. Harvest regularly and don’t let fruit split and fall off the plants.
Foliage will be going berserk with sideshoots growing at all angles unless you are observant. Cut off lower leaves to let light in and cut out any sideshoots unless you decide to let one grow on – I sometimes do this as a replacement leader if the lead shoot shows any signs of disease. If the sideshoots get the better of you, tomato plants can be left to grow at this point.

They may create a bit of a jungle, but you will still get a lot of fruit into the autumn. Do try to tie stems away from the sides of the tunnel or greenhouse so leaves, flowers and fruit don’t get squashed against the glass. I prefer not to cut the growing point on tomato plants. This means they can grow very long and rambling at the top of the poles, but it also means you get lots of late fruit. Feed plants with a liquid feed every week while cropping is in full swing. Check for signs of disease on the leaves and check fruit for caterpillar damage.

For much more advice, see this month's issue, available to buy online!

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