Well, August is nearly upon us – and it’s really the month where all the hard work in the garden and up at the allotment starts paying off.

Peas, beans, carrots, beetroot and much more... including one of my favourite vegetables,sweetcorn – picked and cooked within the hour. Honestly, it’s just amazing.

Typically, though, in “normal” times it’s when we go on holiday – and no matter how many neighbours you ask to please help themselves to courgettes and beans, we always come back to massive courgettes, and more beans you could ever hope to cope with. I have mentioned before my dad grows runners in a poly tunnel up in north Wales and he picked 12lb of beans the other day. Oh, and a cucumber that had been “hiding” that weighed 4.5lb.

Something that has ripened well over the past few weeks have been the cherries – and I think my neighbour has finally had some to eat after he managed to wrap a heavily-laden branch in netting to stop those pesky pigeons and blackbirds eating them. To be fair, he left them the rest of the tree’s fruit to eat – bigger nets next year might be in order, I think.

Things are really kicking on in the greenhouse with tomatoes ripening. The mini-munch cucumbers are just going crazy – I’ve picked ten already.

Chillies are also growing well. As a rule of thumb, the longer they stay on the plant, the hotter they get. However, this does not apply to the innocent-looking peachy coloured Habaneros that are blisteringly hot whenever you pick them.

One thing I started doing in the greenhouse a few years ago is standing the pots in which I am growing cucumbers and chillies in a tray – and rather than water the plant from the top, keeping the tray topped up with water. This way, even in the really hot weather we had they will not dry out.

Keep pinching out those side shoots on the tomatoes and feed regularly to ensure a good crop.

I picked my first crop of Anya potatoes last week. I was given some spare tubers by a friend who reckoned they were delicious. I think I have a new favourite. They are really tasty – waxy, buttery and slightly nutty. They’re not the prettiest potato in the world but really tasty.

I planted two tubers in each bag and I must have harvested 30-plus potatoes. They will definitely be on my shopping list for next year.

I have also just cut all the greenery off the potatoes.

This does two things – it stops the potatoes growing any more and also helps the skins set, so they store better.

Over the weekend I will sort through them and put them back in the bags in layers covered with dry compost, where they will stay under cover quite happily for the next few months.

Hopefully I will have a few sets that will be good enough for the show bench, the first of which this year will be the Steep flower show on August 28 at Bedales. I’ll write more about that next time.

Steve Amos