Harvest will have us bursting with health

The weather has encouraged massive growth on all crops this year, says John, providing an abundance of fresh produce

The summer harvest is well under way. Salads, lettuce, radish, spring onion and rocket have been plentiful since early spring and now numerous fruits are all ripening up. There are raspberries, strawberries and saskatoons to add to breakfast cereals and the first cherry tomatoes to add to salads at lunchtime.

Cherry Cherokee is giving a great crop for snacks and Anna found a recipe for gooseberry fool as the first Invicta gooseberries ripened up. We will be bursting with health living off the land with an abundance of fresh produce.

The weather has encouraged massive growth on all crops mostly to their benefit, though the lush growth on my autumn strawberry rows inhibited ripening as the sun could not get through to them. The early and maincrop strawberries are all picked, but the autumn Flamenco variety continues to bear fruit.

Raspberry Glen Dee is giving large fruit, but my Glen Fyne is being attacked by phytophthora root rot and will have to be dug out once the fruit has been picked. Fortunately I have a couple of rows of autumn fruiting rasps, Autumn Bliss and Polka which do not seem to be affected by the root rot.

Gooseberries are again weighed down with huge berries which gives Anna plenty for the kitchen and freezer and I will get my 10lbs for wine brewing.

The sawfly maggot gave us a miss this year, although a few appeared but were quickly spotted and dealt with.

As for the marauding blackbird, a few new cats in the area appear to have frightened him off. This year the cherries are huge so maybe too big for

The cherries are huge so maybe too big for the blackbird to swallow, though crows have been swooping down to sample a few

the blackbird to swallow, though I am told crows have been swooping down to sample a few.

Bramble Helen usually crops from August onwards but this year the first fruits were ready mid-July, and should bear fruit for a few more weeks.

Blackcurrant Big Ben was picked in early July then Ben Connan a week later. Berries are quite big and the Big Ben is remarkably sweet as my wee helper Luke from Glasgow found out.

The happy smile on his face told the whole story, so crop weight this year may not be as much as we anticipated, but kids will return from their holiday very healthy, being full of vitamin C.

Redcurrants are poor this year, but I put this down to my pruning being not quite by the book. The bushes have been vigorous with masses of foliage, but then they got attacked by leaf blister aphid. Might not get my three demijohns of my favourite wine this year.

The vegetables have also seen massive growth on all crops. Potato foliage is huge and invaded my rose beds growing adjacent.

Pumpkins are even worse. They have put on shoots over 10 feet long invading my chrysanthemum bed, two rows of

gladioli and are climbing a lilac tree on my neighbour’s plot.

Broad bean harvesting was assisted by friends visiting from Glasgow.

While Patricia picked the pods, I pulled out the spent plants and five-year-old Erica carried them up to the compost heap where her dad chopped them up for composting.

Later we all sat on the patio and shelled the beans before they were added to boiling water then cleaned and once they had cooled down the skins were removed from each seed, then bagged for freezing.

Courgettes have been competing with the pumpkins for strong growth. One plant gave me eight large courgettes by mid-July.

Good job we have a produce-sharing system for surplus crops on our allotment site and in times of plenty we box surplus up outside our gates for passersby to help themselves.

Pictures: John Stoa. Erica and mum Patricia picking broad beans; Strawberry Flamenco; summer fruit harvesting; Steve chops up the old broad bean stems.