We are well into the summer holidays now, but the weather has forgotten that. After a very brief warm spell, we are now back to semi-winter and lots of rain.

I haven't done much at the allotment over the last couple of weeks, except harvest as required. We have had a steam of visitors, which doesn't leave much time for gardening. However, they all enjoy helping to pick beans and the like, and certainly seem to enjoy eating the result. We have harvested plenty of maris peer potatoes (second earlies), french beans, runner beans, spinach, and raspberries, as well as some more lettuce, radishes, corn salad, rocket and turnips. By some miracle, the courgette plant has come back to life and is now producing courgettes again. I don't really understand it, but it might have something to do with the fact that I weeded out all the comfrey that was growing around it.

The brussels sprouts, cabbages and sprouting broccoli are all doing well, and as of today, the sweet corn looks fantastic. We had been told that in the past couple of years, the sweet corn crop gets attacked by some largish animal (foxes and badgers seem to be the most likely) and so we have constructed a chicken wire cage around our crop in order to protect it. Hopefully it will work. Our poor neighbour's crop has been attacked, in spite of quite significant protection so I do go along most days with some trepidation, but so far, so good. There are plenty of cobs developing fast and we will be disappointed if the fox gets it first.

I lifted the last of the onion crop today (about 50 onions) and they are now drying in the kitchen. It's far too wet to leave them outside at the moment. They look splendid and should last some months. I then spent quite a while weeding as the soil is lovely and soft at the moment. There is, as usual, masses of bindweed to deal with. I simply don't know where it all comes from. Last autumn there didn't seem to be any, and now it crops up everywhere.

The butternut squash is growing fast, and producing lots of flowers, but as yet I haven't spotted and fruit. It might be a bit cold and damp for them. The raspberries are producing enough for a helping for four people most nights at the moment, which is a real treat. They are big and juicy - probably the result of all the rain we have had.