There’s a fantastic number of allotment, kitchen garden and grow your own bloggers out there. I read as many as I can for inspiration, advice and to find out what everyone is getting up to.

Here are a few of my favourite articles and blog posts from July 2018.

1. Easy to Grow Vegetables for a Hard Brexit. This is such a well researched and topical post from Matt. All jokes about ‘Digging for Brexit’ aside, the cost of food when we leave the EU next year is a very serious consideration. It was something on my mind when Matt’s post popped up on my feed. This is well worth a read.

2. Harvesting this Summer. I loved this post from Hema. It’s been such a long, hot and dry summer. Hard work keeping up with the allotment and garden watering. It’s posts like this, with some delicious photographs, that reminds me of the bounty our plots provide and continue to provide throughout the summer months.

3. Pea soup and summer pudding. This is summer and of the delights our allotments bring. There is so much to enjoy from our hard work on the plots now and here’s just a couple of ideas from Jackie, of what to do with the harvests in the kitchen.

4. 6 Basil Varieties To Grow & Love. Basil is summer for me. It makes me think of Mediterranean dishes and eating fragrant, tasty suppers outside in the sunshine. It’s one of those plants I can’t help squash in my hand whenever I walk past – and savour the scent. Like so many crops, there are plenty of basil varieties to choose from. Here’s Emily offers 6 of her favourites.

5. Harvest. July definitely has a theme and it’s summed up in the title of this post by Sharon. There’s little need for words – just the image of a box of crops. This is why we grow our own.

6. Two Summer Salads – Virgin Mojito Cucumbers and Roast Fennel with Beetroot. If you ever need some proper inspiration when it comes to eating all that homegrown veg, Stephanie Hafferty’s blog is the place to go. Seriously mouthwatering images of the dishes she prepares from her no-dig allotment and Charles Dowding’s incredible no-dig market garden. Food Porn.

7. Minted Pea & Ham Soup. It continues. More homegrown deliciousness in this post from Katrina. I grew this incredible purple podded Blauwschokker pea on the allotment last year and I think it indeed makes a fantastic soup.

8. 10 Water Saving Tips for the Vegetable Garden. After the summer heatwave, we’ve just faced here in the UK, the tips from Tanya in this post are ones you will want to keep your sleeve should we get a scorcher again. Some really interesting and simple methods to keep the veggies thirst quenched on plots or in pots when the temperatures rise.

9. Summer colours (Chilli Peppers Gallery). I told you there was a theme to this month’s Top 10. Some beautiful colours on some fantastic chilli plants here in the Diary of Brussels Kitchen Garden. If you need a hit of some pepper inspiration, let your taste buds dance a little to these.

10. Blossom End Rot. I’ve put this post from Mark on the list because I’ve also suffered the harsh reality of the heatwave on the tomato front. A number of my large tomato varieties have succumbed to this disease. If you want to understand what causes this and how you can prevent it next season, there’s some useful advice within.

You can read all the Sharpen Your Spades Top 10 posts here.

Drop me a comment below with a blog I might be missing out on and I’ll pop it in my reader.

If you enjoyed this post, I’d love if you would share it using the buttons below.

---

Follow Sharpen Your Spades! You can receive my posts by email – Subscribe here.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

You can get in touch with me here.

Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.