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It's so hot I'm having to water my vegetable crops up to twice a day at the moment. Everyone on the allotment is desperately trying to keep the plants productive and, more to the point, alive.We're lucky to have taps dotted around the site, which

I love this weather, it's just the right mix of fresh, dewy mornings and cracking sunny afternoons. The plants seem to enjoy it too, as long as they get watered regularly.On the plot, everything is coming along nicely - the onions and shallots have

.It seems wrong, somehow, to water pots and containers in damp, chilly weather, but they do need the occasional water when conditions are dry. I don't have any pots at the allotment — I'd never be able to keep them watered in the height of summer — but I do

and watering too often!It's all starting to make me think about next season and what my plot might have to offer. Okay the purple sprouting is underway and I've a few cabbages in the ground but not enough frankly. In my book you just can't have enough cabbages

to dig the soil, mulch my beds or dig in manure or compost .But now it's warmed up a little I can finally get on with a few jobs. In fact this weather is perfect for moving plants. The combination of moist, warm soil, dormant plants and no wind is ideal

water and frozen too as it takes a good while for me to eat a season's corn. Paul doesn't like sweet corn - or so he informed me after we grew an enormous bed of it the year before last! This year we only grew half a bed so about 10 plants and that seems

It's been very dry lately, so I've had to water my crops on a daily basis. The poor plants need every drop they can get as my allotment has turned into a dustbowl.Despite the dry conditions, my strawberries have been fantastic this year. I've got

is most likely to occur on sandy soil, especially if lime has been added. Scab is also more likely if the soil is allowed to dry out, so it's worth adding plenty of grass clippings and organic matter when planting the potato tubers, to prevent the soil