My broccoli is ready to harvest. Which is crazy, it’s only July. It’s not meant to be ready until September. I’ve been back through my archive (so useful this blog) and in 2009 I harvested my first head of broccoli on the 24th September. I can’t find exact dates for the last 2 years, but last year I took a photo of my broccoli plants around mid August and they were still quite a way off being ready.

As you can see, it’s not far off bolting. The heads aren’t as tight and green as they really should be. So I’d better get eating my greens sharpish! Apparently it’s not just me though, it seems British farmers have been having broccoli trouble too with all this crazy weather we’ve been having. I sowed the seeds around mid March, so maybe they started off the blocks a bit to quickly with that mad March heat we had.

The incessant rain of late means the allotment has turned into a wilderness in the last two weeks. The grass path has overgrown, the weeds have gone mad, the blackberry vine, which was chopped right back in Spring and has done very little since, has woken up and turned into a triffid, devouring the shed and water butt. We’re going to have our work cut out at the weekend. We might need some Ray Mears style survival tactics before we venture in there. Or maybe just a big machete!