This is a bumper edition of the allotment diaries, combining June and July into one recap. After a difficult monthly update at the end of May – in truth, it was more like the middle of June when I got around to publishing it – I want to try to focus on the small wins this time around, not look at how tough things have been.  

Yes, everyone I speak to, along with other growers I follow on Instagram, has had it tough with the weather and the battle with slugs. However, we gardeners are a tough old lot. We persevere and things have improved since the last update. So I’ll try and be more positive this time around. 

The backlog of plants I grew from seeds, that had been growing in the backyard cold frame, has been cleared and planted on the plot. The hope was that by growing the plants larger before planting out it would help avoid slugs munching the young plants.  

The likes of squash, courgette, Swiss chard, another sowing of climbing French beans, and lots of flowers have all been planted out and the plot is now a lot more filled up. They all got sprayed with Grazers, a product you spray onto the leaves, which is supposed to prevent slug and snail issues, prior to being planted out. They were also surrounded by a ring of grit after planting – another anti-slug tactic, though one I don’t think really does much in reality.  

Two different varieties of leeks were also planted, they are ‘Elefant’ and ‘Lyon’. I plant my leeks in an old-school way by giving the tops and roots a little trim and placing each leek into a pre-made hole, which I just fill with water to help backfill. I think in total I planted about 50 leeks, so we are not going to go short this year. And the good news is that most of the plants are thriving, one or two have been lost to pests but most are romping away.  

The brassicas have done really well this year, against all odds. They have loved the cooler temperatures of late spring and early summer and enjoyed being tucked away under their protective netting. I got a bumper harvest of calabrese, of which many heads have been prepped and frozen, and a few good cauliflower heads, while the cabbages are looking in fantastic shape at the minute. I did get a perennial broccoli plant that I added in June too and do plan to get some kale plants soon. 

Other harvests have included the broad beans, of which there was a decent haul but not fantastic, and the beetroot that did germinate – which admittedly was not much – swelled to a good size and I have started to lift them. Elsewhere, the first tomatoes are developing on plants, I picked a couple of cucumbers, and the first squash and courgettes are growing too.  

There has been fruit too, however, I haven’t seen much of it. There have been ripe red strawberries, though unfortunately most were nibbled by pests, and a handful or so of raspberries. The soft fruit bushes did have fruit developing, but most of the gooseberries, redcurrants, and whitecurrants that did form were lost to birds or other unwanted visitors. 

The cut flower patch is starting to burst with colour – which is fabulous. I’ve got sunflowers almost as tall as me which are standing proud and their bright blooms are a sight for sore eyes. The first of the scabious, cosmos, and zinnia are also starting to flower and having these cut flowers makes a real difference to the patch. I have packed many more flowers that I grew from seed into this section of the plot, so I am hoping for lots of colour and blooms to pick over the coming weeks.  

Unfortunately (and here I am going to have a proper moan) I planted a lot of Dahlia tubers, but the slugs annihilated them and unfortunately, none are showing. It is a big shame as I was looking forward to a good selection of dahlias.  

Weeds – it will not surprise you to hear – are a constant battle at the minute, but everyone will be having that issue. Slugs don’t eat weeds unfortunately and the moist ground and hot weather recently have triggered them on in their droves. Little and often hoeing, along with digging out bigger weeds, is my go-to tactic. Is it working? Kind of, but I’ll keep plugging away. While most weeds can be handled fine, there is more and more bindweed appearing and also lots of couch grass spreading in from the allotment neighbour that is much more of a headache.  

I did remove the landscaping fabric paths in June. In truth, they were just annoying me. The original intention for them was to just be short-term, and there just to be one. However, it expanded to two paths last year and they didn’t look nice. The fear was that they were providing a lovely home for hordes of slugs, so I decided just to remove them for now. I do think the plot looks a lot better without them and I’ll just have to keep on top of hoeing those sections going forward.  

Wow, this update is becoming an essay, so I will leave it at this for now. To sum it up, things are still a bit of a struggle but we’ve turned a corner and the fact there are happy crops, harvests, and colorful flowers makes the plot a less stressfull place to be than it was. In August I need to add more crops to fill spaces and replace ones as they are harvested, and do need to keep on top of the watering and weeds. Sounds simple enough (haha) so hopefully next month’s update will be positive again. Fingers crossed.