July is fruit time in the garden and a busy time, as it has to be turned into jam. First come the strawberries, a very soft fruit that has to be used soon after picking. Next come the blackcurrants, and because they are a small fruit, they take time picking. Raspberries are larger and easy to handle. Then there are the troublesome gooseberries, as they have to be topped and tailed.

All the fruit has to be weighed. Most of it will give a good set without any bother, except the strawberries. We usually add some lemon juice to get a perfect set. There is no jam to compare with homemade jam that can be enjoyed all through winter. Some is sold for charity.

Now that the strawberry beds have finished, they will be clipped right back and a good tonic of liquid cow manure spread to give them a good start to their growing time again, after producing such a heavy crop.

Most of the sowing is done for now, except to keep the lettuce supply up by sowing a few seeds every few weeks. Scallions can also still be sown this month.

I sow seeds of spring cabbage. I find Wheelans Imperial good and hopefully it will be ready to plant out the last week in August.

We are enjoying some lovely peas, beans, cabbage, cauliflower and new potatoes at the moment. It’s well worth the effort to produce your own fresh food.

Back in May, I was asked to do a video of the garden for Bord Bia and Bloom. I hope my readers saw it, as I got a huge response from people all over Ireland, with lovely comments. Thanks to all. I felt like a film star for two minutes as I got so many phone calls, emails and handshakes. Thanks to all my friends and neighbours. I must add, it was one of the coldest days of the year, with a northeast wind blowing, and filming nearly took a whole day for just two minutes on video. But I am really pleased that so many people enjoyed it. CL