If you’ve got space left to fill and make use of, there’s plenty of sowing to do. Seeds for lettuce and summer salads need to be sown every couple of weeks to provide young fresh leaves. The loose leaf varieties such as Red Salad Bowl, Lollo Rosso and Bijou are tolerant to hot weather and seem to do better at this time of the year than the cabbage head types which can annoyingly run to seed.

Tender herbs such as sweet Basil can be sown now or you can buy plants from your local garden centre. Beware that Basil is notorious for needing a high temperature to germinate so start them off in the greenhouse or on a windowsill before moving outside.

Sow Marrows, Courgettes and Squashes outdoors in soil which has been improved with organic matter such as well rotted garden compost or Levington Organic Blend Farmyard Manure. They appreciate a deep root run which holds plenty of moisture; you really can’t add too much of this stuff when it comes to these plants. Try digging out a trench, putting soaked news paper in the bottom, followed by as much organic matter as you can get your hands on before back filling with soil. Finally, don’t forget to mulch them (black polythene is ideal).

Pick Broad Beans as the pods swell. If Blackfly are a problem on the growing tips, pinch these out and spray the rest of the plant with BugClear Gun! for Fruit & Veg. This insecticide has a 1 day harvest interval and this will allow picking and eating of the crop on the day after treatment.

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Sweet Peppers and Aubergines will also need feeding to ensure they produce a good tasty crop. When growing really fast, Tomatoes do need a good supply of magnesium or the leaves develop a yellowing between the veins called chlorosis. This can be avoided if the plants are treated to regular doses of a special fertilizer such as Tomorite, that contains a good quantity of this nutrient. Add Tomorite to the water every couple of weeks to encourage good strong growth of the plant and plenty of flavour to the fruits.

Summer is the time for Whitefly to breed prolifically under glass. To get rid of them without reducing the harvest potential, spray the plants thoroughly with BugClear for Fruit & Vegetables. This new insecticide contains rape seed oil so is safe to use on all edible crops. Whitefly traps are an ideal way to monitor the presence of this flighty little pest in your greenhouse or conservatory. Hang a few of these sticky yellow cards just above the growing tips of your plants (the pests are most active at this level) and keep a regular check on how many you catch. A high number of Whitefly caught on the trap signifies the need to take some action and if you don’t want to spray a chemical you can also try a natural predator.