Growing THE GOOD LIFE

With summer reaching its peak, there's a glut of crops on the allotment. Sara Ward is busy storing fruit and veg, as well as planning ahead

- Sara Ward

The harvests are now coming in thick and fast. A quick check of last year's records show that we gathered 150 per cent more in July than June; a significant contribution being greengages on the allotment.

The warmth of the city often means that crops ripen slightly earlier than in other parts of the country and as soon as we spot the squirrels starting to snack on them, it's time to pick the lot. I have a net on a pole to help me reach the higher fruit and literally pick as much as I can carry home - a bucket of 5kg in each hand.

While fruit and veg are on the up, eggs are on the down as several of our hens are broody. Believing it's time to hatch their eggs for chicks, they stop laying and settle in the nest box for weeks at a time. So committed are they to keeping eggs warm, they only leave the nest for 10 minutes a day for a quick meal and comfort break.

Time for tomatoes

Now is the time of year to talk tomatoes!

Hopefully, with regular watering and a good amount of sun, they are starting to grow strong and tall. Do tie cordon tomatoes in to a sturdy support. We use bamboo canes, to prevent the stems from bending and breaking.

Pinch out the sideshoots of taller vine or cordon varieties, to encourage concentration on developing flowers and trusses of fruit rather than big bushes of foliage. And start feeding tomatoes as the fruit starts to swell - we use a feed enriched with liquid seaweed, diluted in our watering can, and feed at soil level to keep leaves dry, which reduces the risk of blight taking hold on wet foliage.

Bringing in the harvest