High Summer Check-In: The Garden at Its Peak

It's mid-July, it's warm, the days are long, and for the first time this year, the allotment garden feels like the finished, living space I imagined when I started building it. Everything is growing so fast that it's almost hard to keep up with. This is what all the winter prep and seed starting was for.

Allotment Status Report

The Sungold tomatoes are producing more fruit than I can eat in a week. I've been bringing bags of them to friends and colleagues. The Black Krim is finally catching up and has a handful of large, promising fruits swelling on the vine. The Yellow Pear tomatoes are absolutely everywhere — covered in small clusters of fruit that ripen almost daily.

The cucumbers took a while to get going but have now completely taken over their frame. I'm picking one or two every other day. The key trick I've learned with cucumbers: pick them before they get too big. A slightly small cucumber is crisp and fresh. A large, overgrown one is watery and bitter.

The chilies are still mostly green, which is normal — they ripen late in the season. But the plants are loaded with fruit, so I'm expecting a good harvest in August and September.

The rhubarb was harvested several times and turned into jam. The stalks have now been left to grow and recharge the crown for next year.

Indoor Plants in Summer

My indoor collection is doing well. The Monstera I moved to soil in April has fully settled in — it dropped one leaf during the transition but has since pushed out two new ones, both with more fenestrations than the previous leaves. LECA is working great.

Summer is actually a relatively easy time for indoor plants. The longer days and higher light levels mean they're growing actively, so they use water more consistently and you get into a natural rhythm with watering. The difficult season is coming — the dark Danish autumn when growth stalls and overwatering becomes much more of a risk again.

What's Next

In a few weeks, I'll start thinking about what to direct sow for the autumn: more spinach, some kale, maybe some winter lettuces. The indoor plants will start going under the grow lights full-time again once the days shorten. And somewhere in a corner of the garden, the Jerusalem artichokes are doing whatever they want, as usual.

It's been a good summer.