It has been a VERY slow start to the season for crops this year. The radishes came early, and I have been picking the Cos lettuce for a few weeks now. But strawberries are the crop I have always associated with the start of the season, and they have only just ripened.

The strawberry patch is very densely planted and really should have been thinned out before the start of the season. But the combination of all that rain in April / May / June and lots of sun in July has delivered a VERY good crop. They flowered late and seemed to take ages to develop, but strawberries this year, although smaller than usual, are a very dark red, intensely sweet and packed with flavour. They are delicious, and there are so many of them I have been sharing pots of them with the neighbours.

The leaves on some of the potato planters are starting to die back now, so they will be ready for harvesting in the next few weeks. They grow well in the air-pots, but have to be kept well watered. And the pots make them very easy to harvest: I put the whole pot into a wheelbarrow, remove the sides of the pot (they unwrap very easily), empty the contents into the wheelbarrow and rummage around until I have extracted all the potatoes. It is easy to then add fresh compost, mix it all in well and then re-fill the pot, ready for the next crop.

The cucumber has been sulking for the last 2 months, but has just started growing madly. The tomatoes are still very small, and growing feebly. Something is not right for them this year, and I think we are going to run out of sunshine days before they produce any fruit. The lettuces need regular harvesting to prevent them bolting or going over.

And best of all, I have a few beetroot emerging, both red and golden varieties. I pick a few each day, and will get back into making Nigel Slater’s beetroot, feta and mint summer salad mix (from Greenfeast: Spring, Summer) for dinner in the evenings. It is one of my all time favourite summer recipes. A mixture of grated raw beetroot, warm feta and lots of fresh mint and rocket from the garden. Perfect for this sunny summer that has arrived at last.

And in the meantime I will enjoy watching my garden grow in this lovely sunshine.