Growing onions to size is only half the battle. If you want your home-grown bulbs to survive dark winter nights without turning to mush, turning your focus to harvesting and curing is where the real work begins.
It’s been insanely hot, and while everything feels like it’s coming in slightly later than last year, the harvest floodgates have finally opened. A massive surge of tomatoes, blackberries, cucumbers, courgettes, and garden grapes has pushed our harvest tracker to 29.770kg.
If your plot is currently giving you a slight case of high-summer fatigue, you aren't alone. Between heatwave survival, deep-watering routines, and the wait for maincrop heavy-hitters to tip the scales, it’s easy to feel like the sowing season is over. Here is the secret: it isn't.
The tomatoes are heavily setting fruit, the pumpkins are sizing up nicely, and the blackberries are just ridiculous right now. But high summer isn't easy. While the allotment is verdant, it's a constant battle against the relentless heat grind.
The July Lull is real, and it is a test of patience. The early summer rush of beetroot and cauliflowers has been harvested and weighed, but the heavy autumn hitters—our maincrop potatoes, winter squash, and greenhouses full of green tomatoes—are stubbornly taking their sweet time.
Balancing a demanding job, young kids, and an unruly allotment means tomato selection is a high-stakes strategy. Here is the honest breakdown of the 12 varieties fighting for greenhouse space this year—and exactly how they earn their keep on the scales.
Allotment Life
Is your plot facing a July jungle takeover? Read our honest look at mid-summer allotment failures. From dealing with codling moth damage on netted apple trees and onions choked out by weeds, to total turnip growing regret and why weed membranes are a future lifesaver.
Beginner Tips
Want to turn kitchen waste into "black gold"? Read our comprehensive, no-nonsense beginner's guide to composting. Learn the exact greens and browns formula, the cardboard Amazon packaging hack, how to use a compost aerator, and the critical mistakes to avoid.
A massive cauliflower harvest and heavy beetroot pulls lift the tracker to 17.38kg! But mid-July brings pure allotment chaos: a sneaky snail saboteur unmasked, a windowsill seedling tragedy, and the ominous approach of the first summer courgettes.
A massive 1kg cauliflower and a heavy crop of Charlotte potatoes have pushed the harvest tracker to 13.71kg! But it's not all wins—a container drainage mistake and a lettuce mountain have provided some classic allotment lessons this week.
We have officially broken the 10kg barrier! Thanks to a massive beetroot harvest, the tracker is flying. Here is how I'm catching up on succession sowing, why you shouldn't be ashamed of £3 plug plants, and the ongoing game of tomato Tetris on the patio.
A May heatwave followed by a wet June means the allotment is finally planted out! Here is how a kids' paddling pool saved my seedlings while I was on holiday, why the greenhouse flip was a success, and why the scale of my squash patch is currently terrifying me.