July

Are Chrysanthemum Greens about to emulate Red Mustard Leaves — to become another Salad Leaf which, having been introduced to Britain by City Herbs, goes on to become very widely grown and sold?

Chrys-Greens will be among products to be harvested in July, at the start of the City Herbs Summer Season. More products will be grown exclusively for us in 1997 than ever before. Among 37 herbs, for example, expect to see Peruvian Basil, Tricolour and Tangerine Sages and even Tashkent Mint entering our product range.

We’ll have 28 homegrown-for-us Salad Leaves; several well-established, but others with names like Clery Mustard and Water Spinach.

Most of our new Vegetables will appear in the autumn, but July should see the debut of Crookneck Squashes and Asparagus Broad Beans (surely it cannot repeat the success of Asparagus Kale, a wonder-hit after we had it grown again, after a 40-year gap, in the Spring).

This July will see the return of our “illegal” Henry Doubleday Veg — the ones the EU is trying to eradicate by making the sale of their seeds prohibitively-pricey — including 40 forgotten varieties of weird and wonderful tomatoes that we championed last year. They were spectacularly popular, with many larger restaurants capitalising on their odd names and even odderer histories to run Olde Englishe Tomato Festivals. Schedule your’s early and we’ll provide all the back-up bumph. We keeping fingers, eyes, legs and several other things crossed on some others. Having sourced the seeds and commissioned farmers to grow them, we’ve no idea whether they will live up to the taste and texture promises made on their behalf in all the old growers’ textbooks. So it really is a case of suck ‘em and see.

July is certainly a month of changes all round. The first few precious Giroles from the woods around Aviemore. They are always super-fresh and represent superb value.

Soft fruit should be very plentiful and fairly cheap. English Raspberries,Tayberries, Loganberries, Redcurrants, Whitecurrants and Blackcurrants will be ripe early on. Delicious Wimbourne Blues Blueberries are likely to arrive mid-month. Strawberries will be plentiful early on, but quality fruit is often difficult to find at the end of the month. Levellers are probably the sweetest, biggest and most delicious Gooseberries grown. The English crop is wonderful and should be available throughout the month.

English Cherries are often small and scruffy but they usually have a great flavour. July is a good time to freeze whole or pureed cherries for later use.

Spanish Plums will continue to dominate the market and varieties will include Red Santa Rosas, Black Amber and Golden Gaviota. Greengages or, at least, Gage Plums should be also available.

Black Grapes can be a little difficult, but Israeli White Seedless are expected to remain good throughout the month.

Peaches and Nectarines continue to offer good value and French Apricots will reach their best. Cling Peaches are usually only put in tins, not tasting too good in their raw state. But they’re perfect cooked or preserved in brandy syrup.

Apples will continue to arrive from the southern hemisphere. Some will begin to deteriorate slightly, but New Zealand Braeburns and Sturmers should remain good.

Citrus fruit will come predominantly from South America and South Africa.

In Melons, there’s a fabulous range in July. Frog Melons often go for a song (or croak) and Galias can be silly-cheap. In the quality stakes, perfumed French Charantais are unbeatable.

Toffee Dates start to look OAP-ish.

Mangoes can cause problems.Gobstopperish Gineps were a hit last summer.

We have to wave goodbye to English Asparagus. Some growers continue to cut during the first fortnight of July, but the price is high due to tight supplies rather than high quality; Thailand and America will supply well into autumn.

Home-grown Parsnips are unsurpassable when they first arrive. Sugar-sweet and butter-smooth. Well worth their slightly inflated price-tag.

Leaf Broccoli can fill asparagus's shoes remarkably well. The slender, tender, leafy spears, look great on the plate. They will be available from mid-month onwards.

English Kohlrabi appears then too; cheap and very cheerful. Smallish Purple and Green heads will be around until early Autumn.

Make the most of English Baby Vegetables. Beetroot, Carrots, Savoy Cabbages, Leeks. Artichokes and Turnips will be available regularly.

Baby Fennel and Kohlrabi turn up from time-to-time.

Home produced Peas are a great choice. They are of excellent quality in July and are usually available at a very good price.

The same can be said of Runner Beans. Bobby Beans are now grown in England too. Their quality and price is often excellent.

Cauliflowers are at the mercy of the weather -- a very hot spell can cause quality problems. New English Onions are always hot, sweet and rock-hard. They will replace the last of the old, sprouting crop.

New Season Potatoes finally become large enough to be washed for boxes of Jackets. The price stays high at first but should fall as we head towards August.

Samphire is a super, special vegetable which is plentiful in July. Salad crops making a debut in July include New Season English Radiccio. In previous years it has been very beautiful and splendidly bitter. Great grilled or raw.

Pak Choi isn't a typical English crop, but it certainly grows well here in the summer months. Small heads, in particular, are perfect eaten raw.

Avocado supplies are likely to be erratic, as they are very much “between seasons”.

Herbs and Flowers will be plentiful, with the possible exception of Chervil. The plant tends to run to seed if we have a hot spell.