As the pea stems turn white, the potatoes are dug up and the apple glut hits it’s time to take stock of the 2024 growing season.

Owner of an allotment for a decade, and still one of the younger plotholders, I’ve been seeing apocalyptic comments on twitter about complete failures and small or no harvests this year. A mixed picture for me.

As a weekender I have narrowed down what I grow over the years to only the safest crops. So spuds – which this year was a decent crop but the average size was pretty small. Runner beans were a real challenge to start – the ‘slugageddon’ of a sodden May required frequent visits and the application of organic pellets several times. Now the crop is pretty good and I’m giving them away, turning them into kimchi and chutney etc. The apple harvest, from three trees I inherited, has been ridiculously good.

Peas should work, as they are pretty pest repellent, but I get a couple of bowls of pods and am not sure if I need to grow many more plants, start then earlier or what. Rhubarb – which is a bit of mine, a bit of » Continue Reading.