Keep pace with summer growth
Sow, plant, when to use covers and water, tomatoes, events upcoming
Charles Dowding
July 31, 2025
Plant growth during one day in August is equivalent to growth during approximately two days in September, four days in October, and eight in November. Be on time with new sowings now, and all other jobs for that matter.
Recent sowings in my greenhouse 30th July include spinach, lettuce, cabbage, fennel and kohlrabi
For autumn and winter harvests, seed now
The big sowing is SPINACH, Spinacia oleracea, not spinach beet Beta vulgaris, also mistakenly called ‘perpetual spinach’ . It is green beet leaves, tasty when cooked. But true spinach is next level for flavour, and is delicious raw.
Sow before mid month, for cropping until next May. A follower in Tennessee tells me his spinach survives temperatures of 0°F, -18°C.
Chinese cabbage, no later than 10th August and best before 5th, even better this coming weekend!
Florence fennel in the first few days only
Winter radish such as mooli / daikon, by end of the first week
Endive for salads of bitter leaves from mid-September
Kale and chard in first week, for small leaves mostly. They can survive winter
Oriental leaves, salad rocket and land cress, preferably by mid month, for salad in autumn and in mild conditions, through winter in small amounts.
I start everything in the module trays of my design, which work so well to grow small but adequately sized plants for rapid transplanting after only 2 to 3 weeks in summer. Scroll down this page to find more about them and where they are sold, across the world.
Turnips are best multisown under cover, because they suffer less flea beetle than when sown outside. They are for harvests in late autumn.
Turnip harvest 25th October last year, 60 days since they were multisown and then transplanted 8th September. Grown under mesh cover to protect from cabbage root fly.
New plantings
Late July plantings of 18 day old chicory for radicchio, after potatoes. And 3 month old leek plants, after peas and wild rocket.
You can transplant in early August, any of the above vegetables which you sow now.
Kohlrabi for bulbs by October and onwards
Leaf beet and chard for leaves from autumn and onwards
Chicory for radicchio
Leeks, from spring sowings, early in August. Leeks grow slowly and the later you transplant, the smaller will be your harvest, so there is some urgency. Varieties such as Musselburgh and Bandit are good to overwinter and harvest next April, by which time they will have grown a worthwhile amount.
Most views at Homeacres now include new plantings, in this case dwarf French beans after beetroot, bottom right.
Large roots, are they woody?
Woodiness means full of sinews and tough to eat. It does not occur when plants are grown in soil full of health and microbes, and where no synthetic fertiliser is used. The latter depress microbial activity, see this from Rothamsted Research in the UK.
Beetroot are biennial. In their whole first year, they continue swelling, without trying to grow seed until the following year.
It's growing to seed which causes woodiness. We see it sometimes by late May in early sowings of turnip, and by July in Florence fennel, also kohlrabi, all of which are annual plants.
Beetroot Boston multisown 1st March, photo 30th July, see next photo.
The largest beetroot from the clump above, weighed 1.28 kg / 2.8 lb. This 30th July harvest is five full moons after the sow date and they show as radiant rings around the centre. We ate slices of this raw and it’s juicy, tender.
Succession planting
This means filling spaces left by spring crops. I find that in healthy no‑dig soil, rotation becomes less critical.
When your soil is truly vibrant, succession simply needs to respect the growing rhythm, not family categories. Some reliable August successions are:
Carrots → brassicas such as kale and salad rocket
Onions → autumn salads
Potatoes → leeks, if you have plants
Beetroot → turnips
Cucumbers → interplanted fennel
Tomatoes need new care
This is the 13th year of cordon / indeterminate tomatoes in the central bed of my greenhouse. They receive no feed or fertiliser, just 3cm old cow manure, and I spread some dried seaweed
For tall indeterminate plants, pinch out the tops to prevent new growth and allow all resources to flow into existing fruit. I do this on 10th August under cover, and late July outside.
Bush / determinate plants can be left to grow.
Water according to the weather
Water more if it’s hot. A clue that you might be under-watering is blossom end rot, ugly black patches on the bottom of large tomatoes. It's a calcium deficiency but caused by a lack of water, meaning calcium has not been able to reach the fruit.
In my polytunnel, I'm still using the spray line to water tomatoes, because of the unusually dry and sunny weather. This means that there are few if any spores of late blight. In contrast during last year’s wet summer, I watered only to the soil in order to keep the leaves dry.
I do the overhead watering in early morning before a sunny day, so that leaves can fully dry before evening. Water your seedling plants in the morning too, so their leaves dry by evening, for fewer slugs and less mildew.
Picking tomatoes
The two photos below, and also my video, explain how tomatoes ripen so well off the vine. I am asked a lot whether this reduces flavour and I have not noticed it myself, nor have other people eating these tomatoes. It's your choice!
The advantages are freeing up space, being able to drop plant stems, reduced pest damage to ripening tomatoes and more chance for the plants to grow extra fruit.
I pick at breaking stage for beef tomatoes only.
Melons ripening
Lottie melons are pleasingly later than Malaga which has finished, and Emir on the left are almost all ripe and eaten
Maintaining fertility and health
It's rare that I spread new compost in the summer, but this carrot bed had received none for over a year, because we planted it with spinach last August, then sowed the carrots in late April.
Mostly for succession plantings, you do not need to spread new compost. There are exceptions, as above.
Also, if your soil is chalky or sandy, holding less moisture. Soils like that need extra organic matter.
With no dig, we are growing soil health, as well as plants. Even more than that we are growing our own health, through transmission of soil microbes from vegetables, into our guts.
The soil and gut biomes are remarkably similar. See this blog I wrote, contributed to Shann Jones on her Chuckling Goat website.
Protective covers
Brussels sprouts, 7 weeks in the ground, Adam removing the cover. This bed had compost last December, and has already cropped a large amount of carrots, with the Brussels planted between them 12th June, and no new compost given.
Insects are now prevalent on summer brassicas, and especially flea beetles. I never saw so many as in the last two weeks.
They caught me by surprise, because earlier plantings of brassicas had not suffered, such as the Brussels sprouts above. I think my purple sprouting broccoli is partly lost, even though it's under mesh. Flea beetles are so damaging because they eat the tender new leaves. I don’t have a remedy!
Trial beds now have second plantings
No dig bed front and dig bed behind, harvests to 30th July are 56kg from the dig bed and 60kg from the no dig bed. Both beds receive the same compost and water.
Almost every harvest is slightly higher from the no dig bed. At the moment the overall difference is slightly less than in previous years, which have seen 11% less food after digging, despite the extra work and the same amount of compost.
Watering
Celeriac, sweet potatoes, agretti. and endive on right 28th July
How much to water and which plants to water is a daily decision, according to their stage of growth and the weather.
In the photo above, we have watered the celeriac only once. But this will increase through August as they start to swell significantly when there is sufficient moisture.
I water the sweet potatoes every week, and the same for agretti beyond. Whereas endive on the right for salad leaves, receive water every three days or so.
All water on my half acre / 2000 m² comes from one tap, by hand. It’s structured water for best hydration. Get 10% off with NODIG at checkout.
Ready for winter, onions topped and drying, garlic hung on wires
Upcoming Events at Homeacres & Beyond
Here are some events I’ll be speaking at or hosting soon:
Wellness Way Festival Wasing Estate, Berkshire – Sunday 10th August. I’ll be giving a talk as part of this wider celebration 8th - 10th August, of health, nature, and food growing. Enter CHARLESDOWDING15 for 15% off ticket price.
Homeacres Summer Tour & Lunch here at Homeacres Saturday 23rd August. A guided garden tour followed by a summer lunch with fire-cooked dishes by the amazing Peter Chippy Grant, and Boogdan Theo. Not to be missed!.
Organic Growers Gathering Hardwick Estate, Oxfordshire – Sunday 24th August. I’ll be speaking here alongside a gathering of experienced organic growers. Part of a three day festival from 22nd August.
Open Day at Homeacres Somerset – Sat 6th September, 10am–4pm. The big annual open day: full tours, compost insights, greenhouse visit, and book signing. My 2026 Calendar will be on sale
Two-Day Workshop at Bingenheimer Saatgut, central Germany – Sat 13th and Sunday 14th September. A deep dive into no-dig principles with plenty of practical observation. What an amazing opportunity to learn about no dig, including a visit to the nearby no dig market garden, and then on Sunday to see how this amazing seed company process the seeds for sale.
Yeo Valley Organic Festival Somerset – Sat 20th September. My talk is on the Germination Stage, sharing core no dig methods and stories. That's a small part of a huge festival, celebrating UK and international gardening, with many top speakers and great demonstrations, over three days from Thursday 18th.
Visiting Homeacres
If you’d like to visit Homeacres and learn in person, do consider joining one of my Day Courses. We go deep into the why and how of no dig, plus compost-making, sowing timings, and layout of a no dig garden. You’ll leave with more confidence and clarity. Full details are on my courses page.
On 20th August is a special course day when I look at energy aspects of gardening. How to grow more for minimal input of time and resources. The evidence for it is right here in the fantastic growth at Homeacres.
Such meaningful order to your work! Gorgeous photos. So Inspiring.
Don't knock perpetual spinach. It's our saviour through summer in the subtropics!