Late Summer Jobs for a Productive Allotment Plot

Make the Most of the Late Summer Window

By the time August rolls around, your allotment can feel like a battlefield. The courgettes are staging a takeover, the runner beans have reached the top of their canes, and somewhere beneath it all there is a path you vaguely remember laying. Late summer is a generous but slightly chaotic moment on the plot. Days are still long and warm, yet the nights are drawing in and the first hints of autumn dampness are never far away. What you do over the next few weeks will decide whether you head into winter with a tidy, productive plot or a soggy mess of bolted lettuces and cabbage white caterpillars.

The good news is that this is one of the most rewarding times to be on the allotment. There is still plenty to sow, plenty to harvest, and a genuine chance to set things up beautifully for the colder months. Let us work through the jobs that really earn their keep.

Sow Now for Winter Salads and Greens

Bare soil in August is a wasted opportunity. As you lift onions, early potatoes and finished peas, get something back in the ground straight away. Winter salads are the star of the late-summer sowing show, and they are far more robust than the floppy supermarket versions many of us grew up with.

• Winter lettuce such as 'Winter Density' or 'Arctic King' sown in early August will heart up nicely before the cold bites.
• Land cress and corn salad (lamb's lettuce) are hardy, low-maintenance and crop right through mild winters.
• Rocket sown now will give you peppery leaves in a few weeks, though it may need fleece later on.
• Spinach varieties bred for autumn, like 'Winter Giant', keep producing when summer types have long since bolted.
• Oriental greens — mizuna, mibuna and pak choi — are quick, tasty and perfect for stir-fries.

Sow into moist soil, water gently and keep an eye on germination. If the weather is hot and dry, a little shade netting over the seedbed can make all the difference. Thin seedlings promptly, because crowded winter salads sulk and run to seed.

Clear Spent Crops and Feed the Soil

One of the most satisfying late-summer jobs is the big clear-out. As soon as a crop has finished, whip it out rather than leaving it to linger. Old brassica stumps, finished broad beans and tired courgette plants harbour pests and disease, and they block light from anything you want to sow behind them.

Pull up spent plants, shake the soil off the roots and pile the tops on the compost heap, unless they are diseased. Anything with white rot, clubroot or blight should go in the council green waste bin or be burned, not composted. Once a bed is clear, resist the temptation to leave it bare. Either sow a quick catch crop, plant overwintering onions and garlic later in autumn, or sow a green manure such as field beans, grazing rye or phacelia. Green manures smother weeds, protect the soil from winter rain and can be dug in come spring. If you have heavy clay, this is especially worthwhile.

Keep Composting Your Green Waste

Late summer delivers a mountain of green material — brassica leaves, pea haulms, grass clippings, weeds without seed heads. Rather than hauling it all to the tip, turn it into next year's fertility. Aim for a mix of roughly two parts brown material (cardboard, straw, shredded twigs, dead leaves) to one part green.

Chop tough stems with a spade or secateurs to speed things up, and water the heap if it dries out. A well-built heap should feel like a wrung-out sponge. Turning it every few weeks will give you compost far sooner. If you are short on space, a couple of dalek bins or a simple pallet bay will do the job perfectly well. Do not add perennial weed roots like bindweed or couch grass unless you are confident your heap gets hot enough to kill them.

Water Consistently and Net Your Brassicas

Inconsistent watering is the enemy of good crops. Tomatoes split, courgettes rot at the tip and brassicas sulk when they swing between drought and deluge. Water deeply rather than little and often, ideally in the early morning or evening, and direct the water at the roots rather than over the leaves. A mulch of grass clippings or compost around thirsty plants will hold moisture in the soil and cut down on weeds.

Meanwhile, pigeons and cabbage white butterflies are plotting against your winter greens. Net your brassicas with fine mesh, making sure it is well supported and does not touch the leaves, or the butterflies will lay straight through it. Check the undersides of leaves for yellow eggs and squash them before they hatch. Firm the ground around kale and sprouting broccoli stems, and stake anything tall that might rock in autumn gales.

Tidy Paths and Prepare for Autumn

Finally, spare a thought for the bones of the plot. Overgrown paths make every job harder and give slugs and snails somewhere to hide. Cut back edging, strim or mow the grass, and repair loose slabs or wobbly boards before the wet weather arrives. A few barrowloads of woodchip on main paths will keep your boots cleaner and the plot looking cared for.

Check your stored onions and garlic for signs of rot, and make sure your water butts are topped up while rain is still optional. Autumn is coming, but there is no rush to retreat indoors. With a little planning now, your plot will keep feeding you well into the darker months.