The plot in August

Jobs on the plot

• Deal with the glut. Freeze beans, make chutney, and find the neighbours who do not grow courgettes.
• Plant new strawberries. Peg down runners or buy plants. Planted now, they crop fully next June.
• Sow green manure. Sow mustard or phacelia on beds as they empty. It feeds the soil and smothers weeds.
• Cut out old raspberry canes. On summer varieties, cut out the canes that have fruited and tie in the new ones.
• Arrange holiday watering. A plot neighbour will usually do it in return for the pickings.
• Sow overwintering onions and spinach. For the earliest crops next year.

Times are for an average year in the English Midlands. Go two weeks earlier in the mild south, and two to three weeks later in the north and in Scotland.