The Spud Rescue, The 1kg Cauliflower, and a Hard Lesson in Drainage
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 hit that frantic point in the British summer where the allotment stops being a hobby and starts feeling like a second full-time job. Everything is happening all at once. I am currently locked in a high-stakes race to pick, eat, and process veg before either the snails claim it or the mid-summer heat forces it to bolt.
It has been a week of massive harvest highs, a few textbook errors, and one saving grace that is keeping me sane.
1. The Charlotte Potato Verdict (And the Compost Bag Mistake)
The first major event of the week was tipping out the Charlotte salad potatoes. On the whole, they have been absolutely great—waxy, full of flavor, and exactly what you want from an early summer harvest.
However, I ran a bit of an experiment this year by growing a batch of them in old compost bags on the patio. The verdict? Not a patch on the ones grown in the ground. They were noticeably smaller and the yield was poor.
The lesson learned here is simple: drainage. I don’t think I poked anywhere near enough holes in the bottom of those bags, meaning the roots sat in stagnant water during that incredibly wet first week of June. It’s a classic After-Hours mistake, but a lesson logged for next year.
2. The 1kg Cauliflower Race
I harvested my very first cauliflower this week, and the beast weighed in at a clean 1.050kg. The texture is perfect, but the clock is ticking. The remaining cauliflowers on the plot are all ready at the exact same time. I need to get them harvested and into the kitchen immediately to stop them from bolting into flowers or getting decimated by the local snail population.
Speaking of races against time, I am currently losing the battle against my first batch of lettuce. I didn't quite get the succession sowing timing right on this round, and it’s all growing faster than the family can physically eat it. On the plus side, my next tray of salad has just germinated, so once this batch bolts, the next generation will be ready to take over.
3. Sowing Triumphs and the Tupperware Trick
Out on the patio nursery, the catch-up sowings are a mixed bag:
- The Wins: The spring onions and bucket carrots have popped up incredibly quickly in the June warmth.
- The Mystery: The dwarf beans have completely failed to surface. For whatever reason, they just rotted or stalled in the compost.
Not to be defeated, I am reverting to my trusted Tupperware sprouting method. I’ve popped a fresh batch of bean seeds between damp sheets of kitchen roll inside a plastic tub on the windowsill. It lets me see exactly which seeds have chitted (sprouted) before they ever touch a pot, saving precious space and time.
Meanwhile, the weed membrane is officially the MVP of the season. The beds covered in it are clean, manageable, and thriving. The beds without it? An absolute pain in the arse. I know what I’ll be buying more of this winter.
📊 The 2026 Harvest Tracker (Target: 100kg)
With heavy hit-hitters like potatoes and a massive cauliflower hitting the kitchen scales, our running total has taken an absolute leap forward over the last fortnight.
- Current 2026 Total: 13.710kg
- Remaining to Target: 86.290kg
We are closing in on 15% of the ultimate goal, and with another kilo of beetroot pulled this week and the rest of the brassicas screaming to be harvested, the next update is going to be hefty.
