As we approach the end of August, I must admit it’s been a poor summer for growing vegetables in our patch of the UK. We started off with a cold, wet May that significantly slowed down the progress of our seedlings establishing. In June, we had a mixed bag of average weather, July was dry and roasting, and from mid-July to now it’s been cloudy skies, cool, humid weather, which very few of our vegetables have appreciated.
As things stand, we have seven well-established tomato plants covered in fruit that are not ripening because temperatures have seldom gone over 18C and we’ve not had much sunshine around.
But let’s focus on the things that have been doing well. The pumpkins and gourd are looking great, and we’ve had a great harvest of romanesco latino courgettes. The lettuce has been a success too.
After a slow start, the cucumbers have kicked off and doing really well. We’ve had a monster haul of onions, and we’ve found a new favourite leafy veg that’s been a huge success: Swiss chard. We’ve made several pots of soup, which is one of Kirsten’s new favourites, and it tastes like a more robust version of spinach soup. It’s equally delicious sautéed with some garlic, and works beautifully with new potatoes and white fish.
Check our our quick harvesting update in the Instagram post below.