August 2026
Sowing, Planting, Preparation & Harvesting
Week 32: 01-07 August 2026
📅 Weekly Overview: August 1st – 7th, 2026
Despite a prolonged dry spell (31 days until a tiny 0.2mm shower on Tuesday), it was a active week focused on maintenance watering and harvesting peak summer produce.
🌿 Key Tasks & Observations
Watering Strategy: Regular maintenance of home borders and greenhouse. Focus at the allotment was shifted to bed preservation, specifically prioritizing winter crops (leeks, carrots, parsnips).
Crop Updates:
Abandonments: Stopped watering failing brassica and pea beds on plot 42.
Mixed Outlook: Winter squashes look promising, but sweetcorn progress is uncertain. Caledonian Pearl potato yields were very small despite July watering.
🧺 Harvest Breakdown
| Category | Crops Harvested |
|---|---|
| Vegetables | • Courgettes: Defender (6), Costata Romanesco (5), Tromboncino d’Albenga (1) • Cabbage: Cabbice (3 small), Caraflex (1 small) • Calabrese: Iron Man (3 heads) • Beans: Cosse Violette (climbing French), Cobra (French), Runner beans (mixed, Lady Di, Tenderstar) • Onions: Mixed (9 medium) • Potatoes: Caledonian Pearl (2 rows – small yield)
|
| Fruit | • Plums & Gages: Oullins Gage (4 large punnets), Mannings Greengage (6), Marjorie’s Seedling (6) • Berries: Loch Ness Blackberries (2.5 punnets), Raspberries (a few) • Tomatoes: Rosella (4)
|
💡 Summary Note: A productive harvesting week, though dry conditions continue to pose challenges for main-crop vegetables. Focus remains squarely on protecting crops destined for winter harvest.
Week 33: 08-14 August 2026
🌿 Weekly Gardening Summary
August 8th – August 14th, 2026
☀️ Weather Overview
It was an exceptionally hot and dry week, with temperatures climbing steadily and peaking at 35.2°C on Thursday. Humidity was almost non-existent until Friday, keeping conditions arid. Heat levels restricted activity on Wednesday and Thursday to protect both gardener and dog!
🚜 Key Activities & Observations
Garden Projects: Began work on renovating the side border at home.
Indoor & Houseplants: Brought two ‘Biquinho Yellow’ chilli peppers indoors to grow on as kitchen/decorative plants.
Maintenance & Watering: Frequent watering was required across home borders, plot beds, and greenhouses. Ground remains very dry despite efforts.
Vegetable Performance:
Potatoes: Potato lifting finished on the 9th; overall harvests for the year were disappointing across all varieties (Elfe, Skywalker, Buster).
Beans: Lady Di runner beans are currently outperforming Tenderstar.
Cosse Violette climbing French beans have finished/gone over quickly.
Roots: Carrots (Romance) and leeks are coming along nicely on plot 41 despite dry soil.
🧺 Weekly Harvest Totals
Week 34: 15-21 August 2026
Weekly Gardening Summary: August 15–21, 2026
Despite some scattered drizzle and light showers (7.8mm total rainfall), dry conditions persisted, requiring regular hand-watering for greenhouse crops, plot beds, and newly cleared areas.
Plot Maintenance & Bed Preparation
Brassicas & Leeks: Uncovered and fed brassica and leek beds on plot 28/29. Dug over the cleared brassica bed; soil was extremely hard but left rough for winter weather to break down ahead of spring tilling.
Onions: Lifted onion sets and placed them on trays near the shed to cure safely off damp ground. Deeply dug the cleared bed using a border spade.
Strawberries: Weeded and removed runners from strawberry beds across plots 28/29 and 41, giving both beds a feed.
General: Removed netting over pea beds to pull crops, hand-dug an exceptionally hard section of ground on plot 42, and maintained morning/evening greenhouse watering schedules.
Weekly Harvest Breakdown
| Category | Crop & Variety | Total Harvest |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetables | Runner Beans (Lady Di) | 3 large punnets |
| Runner Beans (Tenderstar) | 1 large punnet | |
| Climbing French Beans (Cobra) | 1 batch (end of crop) | |
| Peas (Onward) | 2 large punnets, 1 bucketful | |
| Carrots (Romance & Atomic Red) | 3 medium (Romance), trial pull (Atomic Red) | |
| Courgettes (Defender, Costata Romanesco, Tromboncino) | 5 Defender, 4 Costata Romanesco, 1 large Tromboncino | |
| Broccolini (Unknown) | Several heads (first harvest) | |
| Greenhouse | Tomatoes (Summerlast, Crimson Crush, Shirley, Rosella) | 2 large punnets, 2 small punnets |
| Cucumbers (Mini Munch) | 2 small cucumbers | |
| Sweet Peppers (Midas) | 2 small peppers | |
| Fruit | Plums (Victoria) | 3 large punnets (season final) |
| Greengage (Mannings) | 1 medium punnet | |
| Apples (Discovery) | 2 large punnets | |
| Soft Fruit (Loch Ness Blackberry, SuganaRaspberry) | 1 medium punnet each |
Week 35: 22-28 August 2026
Weather Overview
Temperatures: Highs ranged from 18.9°C to 25.3°C; lows ranged from 7.9°C to 16.2°C.
Conditions: Cool early in the week with light showers, transitioning to heavy rain on Thursday (11.8 mm) and Friday (5.8 mm overnight, bringing the 24-hour total to 17.6 mm). The recent rainfall has noticeably started turning the grass green again.
Garden Maintenance & Tasks
Border Work: Cleared the border under the magnolia tree and worked on the side border, including taking pruned tree branches to the recycling centre.
Watering & Weeding: Weeded and watered the two new flower borders, home greenhouse, and allotment during the drier early half of the week.
Rest Days / Outings: No gardening was done on Thursday or Friday due to heavy rain. Outings included walks at Nostell Priory, Walton Country Park, and Temple Newsam with Ruby.
Weekly Harvest Summary
Tomatoes: 4 large punnets (mixed types from home and plot greenhouses), 2 large ‘Oh Happy Day’, and 10 small ‘Rosella’.
Vegetables: 1 large punnet Runner Beans (‘Lady Di’), ½ small bucket Peas (‘Onward’), 1 medium Courgette (‘Costata Romanesco’), 1 large punnet Carrots (‘Romance’), 1 small punnet Broccolini, and the year’s full crop of mixed onions brought home from sets.
Fruit: 6 Figs, 1 small punnet Raspberries (‘Sugana’), and 1 small punnet Blackberries (‘Loch Ness’).
Week 36: 29-31 August 2026
Weather Overview
The weekend was mild with highs reaching between 20.0°C and 21.7°C, lows around 15°C, and maximum humidity peaking at 99%. Saturday was characterized by persistent damp drizzle, though actual rainfall was minimal at 1.8mm. Rain was absent on Sunday, reducing the need for watering.
Key Activities & Observations
Garden Centre Visits: Took advantage of Saturday’s rain to visit garden centres, purchasing autumn-planting brassicas from Carr Gate Garden Centre: Spring Cabbage (Duchy), Cauliflower (Maystar), and Sprouting Broccoli (White).
Allotment Care: Returned to the allotment on Sunday afternoon after taking a break from routine watering.
Milestones: Successfully grew mini sweetcorn (Snobaby) for the first time after several years of trying.
Orchard Note: Picked remaining Tickled Pink apples after earlier windfalls had fallen off the tree.
Processing: Sweetcorn, peas, and tomatoes were prepped for freezing.
Weekly Harvest Totals
| Crop Category | Variety | Quantity / Volume |
|---|---|---|
| Sweetcorn | Snobaby (Mini) | 9 small cobs |
| Goldcrest | 5 medium cobs | |
| Earliking | 8 medium cobs | |
| Brassicas | Iron Man (Calabrese) | 1 large punnet |
| Clapton (Cauliflower) | 1 small cauliflower | |
| Unknown (Broccolini) | 1 large punnet | |
| Squash & Pods | Defender (Courgette) | 6 large courgettes |
| Costata Romanesco (Courgette) | 1 medium courgette | |
| Onward (Peas) | 1/2 small bucket | |
| Fruit & Tomatoes | Mixed: Shirley, Crimson Crush, Oh Happy Day | 2 large punnets |
| Sugana (Raspberries) | 1 medium punnet | |
| Loch Ness (Blackberries) | 1/2 punnet (small berries) | |
| Tickled Pink (Apples) | 6 apples |
