The allotment in August 2017

We've been away a few times this month but once you have an allotment you know you can't leave it for long periods at a time. Thankfully once you get to August all the time and hard work you have put in over the previous months pays off as you can continue to reap what you have sown.

The courgette glut has been continuing. With us going away for a few days at time whenever we go back to the plot we find many of the courgettes have grown to marrows. Whether small or big we been trying to incorporate courgettes in as many recipes as possible without the cry of, “Not courgettes again!” being heard.

If it's not courgettes that we've been harvesting then it's runner beans. Last year the variety we grew was quite woody so of course we have tried something different this year. We went for Firestorm this year and not only are the yields high but there are no stringy or woody bits. Our bean parade has become big that our neighbours in our street have been gifted a bucket.

Another month and another row of potatoes dug up. The Desiree variety is a great all-rounder and a row of them fills a whole sack. To store them all we keep them in the dark in the garage and they last for ages afterwards.

I've seen lots of photographs of tomatoes affected by blight in recent weeks. Thankfully by growing ours in the greenhouse we seem to have managed to avoid it. 

Our rhubarb picking season has come to an end. We stop picking on 31^st July and let anything left to die down naturally. The energy in the stalks and leaves will then go back into the crown for a strong and healthy plant next year.

Pears! We didn't have much of a crop last year but this year looks like a bumper pick. I'm not that keen on pears but Mr JibberJabber is. There is always the option of cake!

We have our winter crop of leeks in. It looks a bit odd when you see them in their holes but this method worked so well last year. We dug up leeks for our Christmas dinner and we were still eating them fresh from the plot well into the new year.

Our last pick of this month is the sweetcorn. On our travels this month we have seen fields and fields of sweetcorn. Our own little patch has come up trumps and we've picked our first cobs. With sweetcorn this fresh there's no need for butter as the corn is so sweet. It must be time for the plot barbecue soon!