The garden is producing abundant amounts of cucumbers and French beans. We have two types of French beans - climbing ones trained up a wigwam and dwarf types. Both of these take up little space but produce lots of delicious beans which are also easy to freeze.

We also have two mini cucumbers plants called Pepito planted in one of the beds, which have been producing masses of sweet, small cucumbers. With so many cucumbers we have had enough for all the volunteers and been able to give some to people visiting the garden.  The cucumbers have been rambling through the bed but have now grown so long that we have trained them off the ground onto canes. This prevents the leaves and fruit getting damp and rotting on the soil. The cucumber leaves also give the lettuces below some welcome shade as lettuces prefer cooler conditions. (Thanks to garden volunteer Sue Craske for the lovely photos accompanying this week's blog!)

Stopping Tomatoes

August is the month to ‘stop’ cordon tomatoes. Cordon tomatoes produce fruits from a central main stem, unlike bush tomatoes which produce fruit from many stems. As the weather starts to cool down the fruit needs time to ripen. Once the tomato produces four clusters of fruit (known as trusses) cut or pinch out the top of the main stem, two leaves above the fourth lot of fruit. This will direct the plant’s energy into producing good tomatoes rather than leaves.