It’s been a challenge to find time for writing this newsletter, and I hope you find time to read it! I want to keep you updated and inspired.

Growth at the moment is so fast that I'm struggling sometimes to keep up. Especially with the extra watering needed, together with my other commitments.

Homeacres is open to visitors on the September 6th open day.

Planting anything now takes longer, because of needing to water enough to be able to make holes for transplants. Then watering the new transplants almost every day. See results in my recent tour video.

We've had three dry weeks of hot sunshine, and average afternoon temperatures 28°C, 82°F, with the nighttime average 14.5°C/58°F. I know that many of you are hotter than this, but for us that's extreme! While by contrast, it will be cooler by the end of next week, while in much of Western Europe it's relatively cold!

The strong fertility of no dig soil really helps plants to cope with extremes. A high content of organic matter enables more retention of moisture, and the undisturbed mycelial networks help plant roots to access it.

A recent interview with Joe Lamp’l from Atlanta Georgia, who visited Homeacres this summer, has lots of background detail about no dig.

I pulled these carrots without using a trowel, just by holding them firmly around their shoulder. They are not washed, and their clean surface shows how dry the soil is.

My recently revised No Dig online course has much detail about how to proceed for best results.

Soil preparation with no dig is simple. For all vegetables, spread the same amount of compost, of any kind, once a year.

So I apply no less compost on beds for carrots, and no more compost on beds for cabbages and Brussels sprouts. The old language of heavy feeders and light feeders does not apply any more. It’s not about feeding plants.

The no dig approach is easier and simpler, allowing soil networks to do the work. They are so good at finding the moisture and nutrients needed for each different plant. I explain all this in my No Dig book, and we are running a three book offer of Compost and Grow Together, with it.

There is still (just!) time to sow fennel, kale, kohlrabi, beetroot, lettuce (see new video), chard and leaf beet,, preferably under cover. Carrots can be sown direct, asap.

Until month’s end is good for sowings of sprouting broccoli to overwinter, endive for autumn salad, chicory for radicchios and winter radish. Also Chinese cabbage, even sown in early August, for autumn hearting.

The period 24th to 27th July is strong for all sowings, which are boosted by the moon’s waxing energy, before full moon on 29th.

Then early August is a top time to sow salad rocket and spinach. But this year, I'm thinking to sow salad rocket a little later, unless the weather changes enough to reduce flea beetle populations.

The cells are 3 cm² wide at the top, 4 cm deep, and each cell has a 13 mm diameter hole at the bottom, making it easy to push out the rootball, and that ensures good drainage as well.

International stockists include The Farm Dream in the Netherlands (ships within EU) / Lindholm Gard in Norway / All About the Garden in USA / Growable in Australia & NZ.

The Containerwise 40L are what I use for broad (fava) beans and runner beans.

I’ve suffered so many poor harvests of celery over the decades, that I feel really happy now to understand more clearly what needs to happen. Three things in particular:

Discover more tips like this on my 15th August day course. It's the last one with available places, all the others have sold out and I don't have time to offer extra ones.

The leaves of second early potatoes are now dying back and you can harvest all of them. With no dig that means pulling rather than digging them out, because the potatoes develop close to the surface. Which also means they need some extra compost or any organic matter on top, to stop them going green.

After pulling, I leave them in sunshine for a day or two to dry fully, and for the skins to harden a little, so that they will then store well in paper sacks. These can be stored even in warmth, because sprouting does not happen until triggered by cold autumn nights.

Maincrop potatoes are still growing and will benefit from some water if you can do that.

I had this question:

My beetroot and potatoes look a bit iffy on top with bits dying back, with leaves wilting and looking a bit yellow, is it safe to eat? Do you know if it's individual pests like leaf miner on the beets and just wilting from the sun on the potatoes or could my compost be compromised with pesticide? New compost added this year from garden centre bags.

The answer is yes for sure, those vegetables are safe to eat. The potatoes are close to harvest, while leaf miner on beetroot is a common problem but does not affect root quality, except perhaps for making them smaller. Nothing described in this question relates to compost contamination.

Tomatoes were slow to get going this year, compromised by cold conditions in both early May and early June, interspersed by a freak heatwave in late May.

Now finally they are coming good, and I'm picking a lot of cherry tomatoes, while the beef tomatoes are starting to ripen.

The photo gives you an idea how much I de-leaf, to improve ventilation and allow easier access to fruit trusses so that I can prune them. I allow two or three beef tomatoes per truss, and 12 to 15 cherry tomatoes That’s in order to have decent size fruit without overloading the plant, which would compromise fruit development higher up.

I'm not feeding tomatoes at all, because nutrients are enabled by no dig soil processes and helped by the 3 cm compost we apply in late April. It includes horse manure, and I find that any animal manure is really good for tomatoes and other under cover summer crops.

It has been hot for tomatoes under cover, which can be a factor causing leaf roll. . A friend from Idaho, where summers are much hotter than here, is enjoying great success from using shade cloth over her hoop house, just during the summer.

One symptom of too much heat can be leaves rolling upwards on tomato plants. Having said that, it's not too critical and not all varieties are susceptible. Sakura F1 in particular has very healthy leaves in hot conditions.

It’s the fifth year of growing melons in the same soil. I sowed them in late March and transplanted in early May, with fleece over for two weeks.

Then they grew like a rocket. And in late May, I hung some little cards on them and also cucumbers, with the predator phytoseilus to eat red spider mites. This has made a big difference to the longevity of plants, ensuring strong final growth and top flavour in the fruits.

I was shocked to hear from participants on a course here, that Monty Don had been advising people not to add bindweed to their compost heaps. It's not indestructible nor immortal, and is a valuable addition of both organic matter and nutrients.

The video explains in more detail. At this time of year, there is a wealth of organic matter both in your gardens and elsewhere, to bulk up heaps. A sufficient quantity of new materials serves to build heat, which is necessary to kill weed seeds.

Heaps you fill during late July and August will decompose more quickly than those filled in late autumn and winter. The compost can be usable by winter when it's just 5 to 6 months old. It does not have to be in perfect condition and makes a good mulch on the soil when partially undecomposed.

Some good combination/overlaps in the next month are kale, chicory and dill in between onions, and carrots between lettuce, In August you can transplant fennel between ridge cucumbers, and sow coriander between lettuce.

I was offered a sauna by Pakmako UK, in exchange for publicising it. After looking at the range, I chose this one and I'm so pleased with how it looks, and how it works.

It's heated by a wood burning stove and is really economical with the wood needed, just one load for temperatures above 80°C. Then I bought a stock tank for cold water to lie in and it's helping a lot to reduce my lymphoedema.