Now the heat of the summer has dissipated…, what am I talking about… that was a bit of romantic poetic licence wasn’t it? Shall we dawdle through my memories of last year? It started amazingly well, we had a mild and dry January and February, I was so happy about that as it enabled me to catch up on all the jobs that had been put to one side. Also it meant the winter fuel bill wasn’t as high as I’d feared, which was an added bonus. Then it rained and rained, which meant it was mild, which again was a bonus financially whilst at the same time the government breathed a sigh of relief that we didn’t have a winter like in the 80’s where there was snow and ice on the ground until the end of March and we would have had many people die from the cold. Happily we didn’t have to go through that and the rigmarole of what the press would have done with it, because I suspect any hint of snow and they were ready…

But I digress, Spring didn’t seem to appear, it was mild, so above freezing but it wasn’t warm. I didn’t have to power up the paraffin heater in the greenhouse but it was slow growth from the seedlings and many failures. May was still cool, and I was thinking ‘OMG what sort of season is this going to be?’ With that thought in mind maybe I should have put myself forward for the Nostradamus of the allotment world. But then June came, I seem to remember we went from low twenties to 32C in 24 hours. I watched it on the met office, days before it happened, and to be honest (and please excuse the language) I thought, ‘Oh fuck, that’s me buggared’. So did everything possible to mitigate a change in temperature of nearly 10c in a day or so. Obviously the greenhouse was well watered, as was everything else, twice a day. And then because of that my newly planted brassicas had an attack of flea beetle, one which they were not going to survive without spraying chemicals, which I’ve never had to do before, in 20 years. It was a night of anguish, but one I feel was the right decision. I sprayed them.

And then of course the kids broke up for their summer holidays. So, we had a blocking low pressure. I have never known a low pressure not drift on. Europe was screaming about their heat wave, people were dying from fires. The UK was damp and wet and without a glimpse of sun. I really think those children and probably most of the UK residents need to be checked for a vitamin D deficiency.

But what happened on the plot was that the vegetables didn’t grow but the weeds did. Weeds will always grow first. At this point I was fighting tomato blight from the dampness and then the warmth and the weeds. I never give up on my tomatoes although they have succumbed, I normally enable them to limp onto Christmas. But the hoeing and weeding was unbelievable, so much to do, so unless necessary I did the bare minimum.,as did many of the allotment holders.

Miraculously we have had a mild October. And so off we all go again. The allotment is becoming more buzzy with cars parked up early evening to get as much done before the dreaded clock change at the end of the month.

So, a small area was cleared. That area was nearly knee high at times in some of the thistles that seem to grow and seed really well in just a very short time.

I have apologised to my neighbours for nearly allowing them to seed. One year to seed, seven to weed.

The asparagus seems to be doing well. It will be two years before I can pick freely but it looks like I may have a small taster next year, I only planted the crowns this year.

Winter crops of green leafy vegetables. Rainbow chard, Italian black kale, brussel sprouts (my favourite) and broccoli and purple sprouting.

But I must show you this that I found in the tops of my brussel sprouts… its not ideal if you have a weak stomach, but nature is marvellous and we seem to have a couple of large snails and babies.. it looks to me like a snail crèche, how amazing is that, for a brain the size of the tiniest dot.

And then there was the leeks to do.

It’s good, all good. May the warm dry weather last and bring a spring to our step at the end of the year.