Let's get it done before summer's over

My summer break off work at last (I work at a school), and maybe I'll have a little more time to devote to my food producing engine--I've got six weeks before the kids and I start back.  I've been racing just to keep up with everything these past couple weeks, particularly since the zucs started.  But it's not just them;  it's also lettuce, French beans, kohlrabi, cabbage, komatsuna (similar to pak choi, which I also have), Charlotte potatoes, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, beets.  I've also been desperately trying to keep a handle on the couch grass and bindweed in my wood chip mulch--I can't let them take it over.

Me at the allotment (zucs in the foreground), July 2026

I'm dehydrating zuc shreds daily, freezing snap peas, putting potatoes into paper sacks;  I've made komatsuna kimchi, made kohlrabi/beet sauerkraut, and I'm cooking up a storm.  We are a family of four:  we can eat a lot, right?  Preservation is a high priority:  I'm unofficially following the Vegetable Challenge (not buying any veg except onions--and even these only rarely) and I'll need vegetables in winter too.

The allotment spoils of the day (heavy!), July 2026

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As daytime temps dropped by about 5C (down from the high 20s), I took a chance and started my late season seeds in pots:  Chinese cabbage, spring cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, fennel, pak choi, komatsuna.  Some of these are second or third sowings, but will probably be the last this year.  Most of these have already started popping up, to be pricked out sometime this week.

I'm also sowing my last half a packet of beet seeds in the potato bed now it's been cleared;  probably some winter radish and turnip seed too.  This bed was generously mulched with well composted manure in early spring when the potatoes went down;  I'll gently fork it over to remove any obvious couch grass runners (a constant battle on my allotment) before sowing, and will cover over with insect mesh to protect from birds/cats/slugs/caterpillars, my usual strategy.  I should be able to take the mesh off by around mid September, as the white butterflies diminish.

An excess of veg, but too hot for seeds

Last week's heatwave was hotter than the previous (though less humid at least).  Thus I've been in harvest mode only, though even that has been almost too much work: a lot to pick!  Still picking lots of zucs, lettuce (not all have bolted yet in the heat), purple French beans, cabbage and new potatoes; and a few artichokes, kohlrabi and purple snap peas (I still plan to save seed from the peas).  The raspberries are just about done with;  and I managed to pick a tub of blackcurrants--unusually for me--to make a small batch of ice cream in the same way as the gooseberries.

I can see little cucumbers forming on my plants at home;  I also have a lot of tomatoes at the allotment, none red but maybe turning a little lighter green?  They are all really bushy in their containers and I haven't done anything to tame them;  since they are growing in composted horse manure they are extravagantly lush.  What's more, it's about time to harvest the allotment pak choi for a batch of kimchi.  Maybe I can do that next week, when school summer holiday starts.

I did have a moment of "what have I done" with the zucs;  I've given a few away, we're eating a fresh/marinated zuc salad every day--and I've dragged the dehydrator out to dry them, shredded.  These go well in stew/chili/etc in the winter.  I made a jar of refrigerator pickles;  I also sliced some thinly to use instead of pasta sheets in lasagna, salted first to draw out water (I defrosted some of last summer's tomatoes to make the sauce too:  really tasty).  And I've been sneaking the fresh shreds into burgers, meatballs, curry, everything. 

The heat/dry has rather put a hold on my seed sowing however.  I still need to start a few autumn/winter plants but doubt they will survive in this weather:  Chinese cabbages, spring cabbages, winter radishes and turnips.  Also the last sowings of beets and lettuce.  I just need it to cool down a little before I start these--I hope it's not too late in the season by the time it does.  Because we are so far north, we lose a lot of light by autumn--if cool weather veg are started too late they won't have enough light to carry on growing, even if the temps are still mild.

Zucs, replacing peas with fennel, raspberries, losing chickens

In the last week or so--after the heatwave--I've done as much as I can at the allotment:  we're expecting even hotter temps later this week so I've been in a rush to get things done.  This includes planting out:  fennel, beets, the last couple of spring caulis;  also keeping up weed maintenance on my wood chip beds at the allotment, mainly bindweed now but also some couch grass.  I've also topped up a few of the beds where possible (some are very dense with veg growth now) and the pathways between.

It might be shaping up to be a zucchini summer!  It's been three years since I had an overload of zucs aka courgettes.  I have about a dozen or so plants, some in states of excessive growth.  The daughter (age six) said to me, "monsters aren't real, are they?" and I replied, "except monster courgettes!"  Which one of my plants is trying to produce (and I'm desperately trying not to let it).  I prefer to harvest mine at about the length of my hand, though I know some people at the allotments let them grow arm-sized.  Like shoulder to wrist arm-sized--way too big.  One way I like to process them is kimchi;  another is to slice and marinate for an hour or two with salt and pepper, plus a little vinegar and olive oil, plus fresh herbs/diced onion/fermented garlic.  I made it with fresh basil the other day and it was amazing.

I think the hot weather did for the mange tout peas as they've stopped flowering, though my newer batch of purple podded peas are still producing (only a small batch though);  I'm going to save seed from both of these, so no more picking.  I pulled up most of one row of the mange tout in order to follow on with fennel seedlings;  the soil underneath was a bit hard and dry.  As the other row of peas next to it grew larger and more productive, I can only assume the soil under them is a bit better.  I tipped on two more barrowfuls of wood chips before putting in the fennel and the husband has been drenching them every night when he goes to water.  Hopefully the soil will improve and the fennel will grow.

The gooseberries are finally finished but we are still in the midst of raspberries.  And I'm experimenting with more no-sugar ice cream (rasp and dark chocolate anyone?).  I have a food mill with a very fine plate which works well for sieving out rasp seeds (gooseberry too, though they aren't quite as seedy).  I get a lot of use out of my food mill as it's handy for both pureeing and straining simultaneously.  Squash puree, applesauce, berries, etc.  No need to peel and core before cooking, as the food mill catches all the fibrous material.

We've lost several chickens in the past couple of months, down to six now.  Our last lost one really is lost:  she disappeared completely.  I'd let the flock free range in the evening and forgot to shut them back in after they went to bed;  when I went to put them back in the morning, one Birthday chicken didn't come running.  We've searched everywhere for a body (we have a lot of undergrowth, not all of it easily accessible by people) even though she was fit and healthy the day before.  Either she's dead in a hard to reach spot or she really flew the coop--also hard to believe as our fencing is pretty impenetrable;  not only that, to even attempt it she would need a very compelling reason to leave all her friends and the amenities of our garden (everything a chicken could want: grass, weeds, bugs, dust baths, a nice safe coop with unlimited food).  If it was a fox surely it would have left at least a pile of feathers or other evidence (we've never had a fox thankfully, not being close enough to the fields).  We're mystified.  

Hot again, carry on cucumbers, bugs and good bugs, ducks

We've had record breaking heat this past week, almost unbearable at my work (a school kitchen);  because it's been so hot I've not done as much at the allotment as I'd planned--it's been too hot to get things done after my shift.  Normally this time of year I'm there both morning and afternoon;  instead I've been going straight home after work to try and cool down in the ten minutes before I have to walk up to collect the daughter from school.

So in the 15 or 20 minutes I have in the morning before school and before it's got too hot, I've finished planting out all my leeks at last, continued picking mange tout peas (sold to me as snap peas, but these are definitely flat podded peas, not the round swollen pods I expected), picked the last of the gooseberries, carried on loosening and pulling bindweed from my wood chip mulch, and of course watering all my containers.  Not all of these jobs in one day, unfortunately!  Though the daughter has helped water in the morning and the son and husband have done so in the evening.

The cucumber saga continues:  the plants growing in my kitchen garden are indeed growing, while I've lost a few more to slugs at the allotment.  Regardless, I feel a little more confident about the possibility of harvesting some, at least at home.  However, I may not be able to save seed as I have two varieties growing practically in the same bed:  a pickling variety and a salad variety.  I don't want cross pollinated seed as I really do want both types;  I might have to buy seed for next year.  Though if the salad variety at the allotment manages to produce I may be able to save some uncrossed seed from them.

It's only in the last week or so I've seen the cabbage white butterflies out and about, fluttering around my brassicas.  I've even found a few inside the insect mesh at the allotment;  the cabbages have grown so tall they've pulled the netting up enough for butterflies to sneak in.  While I have a few unprotected plants at home--the mature spring cabbages I've been gradually harvesting and a few late-sown kohlrabi--I put my last small piece of mesh over my newly planted pak choi bed.  

On the positive side, there are also a lot of hoverflies in my kitchen garden this summer.  And I mean a lot!  I've read they eat aphids in their larval stage, so I can only assume they've been busy earlier in the year.  I think they're really cute, hovering around my flowers and plants.  While not as populous as the hoverflies, I've also seen a lot of ladybugs and larva going about their business.  I let all the bugs get on with it for the most part in both my garden and allotment, and let the resident predators take care of any problems for me, a la permaculture.  My policy is live and let live and the only active role I take is against cabbage caterpillars, but not with insecticide or anything like that;  I pick them off and give them to my ducks.

Speaking of ducks, it's been about three months since we adopted those three nervous Snowflake ducks--how are they getting on?  We officially combined the whole flock in April, about a month after we brought the Snowflakes home.  They are much less quacky now, less scared of everything and used to free ranging in the garden;  we still lock them up overnight and let them out again in the morning.  Boy Duck still chases them once in a while, but they don't freak out about it and he's much less aggressive about it too.  Girl Duck has gotten really slow and trips over her own feet when she tries to run;  I worked out that she's actually about 10 years old now, and Boy Duck is 8.  The Snowflakes, not yet 1 year old, are all laying an egg a day:  big tasty ones with lovely white shells.

Harvest time, planting time, getting a handle on the grass, delicious gooseberries

All systems go!  I've gone from picking a little here and there, to all things at once:  lettuce, cabbage, mange tout peas, broad beans and onions (just harvested all of these), beets, new potatoes, gooseberries, raspberries, currants, cherries.

In addition to harvesting all of the above (mostly at the allotment), I'm still in the last stages of planting out.  I've finally put in all the last cucumbers, split between home and the allotment;  same deal with the pak choi.  My patio table, full of trays since spring (I kept transplanting out and then refilling the trays) at last has empty spaces.  I'm not quite done sowing seeds:  I'll do a batch of Chinese cabbage and at least one more of lettuce and maybe beets;  and a little later on hopefully some spring cabbages and possibly onions to overwinter.  I'm also planning on direct sowing some radishes and turnips later in the season too.

The whole family helped clear away the broad beans in order to replant the bed with leeks, all three trays waiting patiently since March.  Though it was a hot morning, we got it done (mostly me actually--the husband's leg isn't quite better, the daughter's only six, and the son was dragging his heels):  we pulled all the plants, stripped the pods off, forked the bed lightly to remove any weeds and grass roots, then mulched heavily with wood chips.  My composters are full to bursting. 

Actually, this bed has had two more crops since I grew potatoes there last summer:  Chinese cabbage in autumn/winter and broad beans this spring.  So this is the third time I've sifted out grass roots and actually there were a lot fewer this time--it was teeming with them after the potatoes came out last July.  There were some clumps of grass growing amongst the broad beans, but it wasn't completely swamped and the soil was fairly soft under its light mulch of wood chips--I last topped it up when I sowed the broad beans in February.  I spread a much thicker mulch on top this time.

I'm still doing weed maintenance on my wood chip mulch, little by little:  just loosening roots out with a fork (almost exclusively bindweed and couch grass, no other weeds).  However the newest sheet mulched bed is sprouting grass and it's not yet soft enough underneath to simply loosen it out.  Instead I've been topping up with more wood chips, but until it really composts down below, it may have to stay grassy.  Unlike the broad bean bed, which had no existing growth when I deeply mulched with wood chips, here I'd laid down cardboard sheets over some very vigorous grass/weeds and mulched on top of this.  

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What do I do with gooseberries?  One year I made jam--then gave it away as we are a mostly no-sugar family.  This year I experimented with making sugarless gooseberry fool using sweetener (we prefer a stevia/erythritol blend), only I may have gone a little overboard with the whipped cream.  As I sampled it after folding it all together, it reminded me of ice cream, so of course I immediately popped the whole tub in the freezer.  It turned out great!  A little sour, well balanced by the creaminess.  It was literally just gooseberry puree (cooked, cooled, then put through a food mill), a spoonful of sweetener, and a lot of whipped cream.  Delightful.

Cucumber woes, rainy veg, digging and cherries

My poor little pickling cucumbers are no more--at least not at the allotment.  I planted out the last batch (the last batch still alive that is) in my kitchen garden at home, in the hopes they might live long enough to produce.  They're all only just growing their first leaf:  still pretty small.  I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best.

However, my four salad cucumbers previously planted (also at home) are still alive and have grown somewhat, despite the rain and somewhat chilly temps this past week;  I  have a last batch of these too, not yet planted out.  The forecast says it'll be a bit warmer this week, which they and many of my other summer plants need.  I say many, because I have some plants quite happy for it to be cool and rainy:  peas, lettuce, onions, beets, cabbage, kohlrabi.  At least something has been flourishing!  

I've begun harvesting the peas (mange tout aka snow peas), lettuce and onions so far.  As my direct sown beets have come up rather sparsely, I've started some more seed in modules to hopefully plant out by the end of the month--though I do have a couple early sown beets I have my eye on.  And the broad beans are so close--all covered in pods, but not quite big enough;  I need to pick these as soon as possible, so I can transplant my leeks in their bed.  Grow!

I spent every day last week digging out grass/weed roots from the allotment bed that I harvested garlic from;  I also mulched it heavily with wood chips and have begun replanting with cauliflowers.  If only I could plant leeks here--but I can't follow alliums with alliums, especially in the face of white rot.  Instead, it has enough space for some pak choi too, but I'm still undecided.  Do I risk it?  I have very little space at home any more, and it's getting a bit big for its little pots--like the leeks it needs transplanting very soon.  One more on the soon list:  fennel.

I netted my Stella cherry tree--though the net didn't quite cover all the branches;  and I covered some ripening fruits of my Kordia cherry tree with cloths like last year.  Kordia was simply dripping in blossom this spring and I had such high hopes, but no.  It's only got a few clusters of cherries here and there.  Stella, still not looking very healthy, also not many cherries.  However, my Morello cherry tree has a good amount of fruit for its size (a mini dwarf) and they are just about ready for picking;  though I netted it I don't think I quite got it bird proof, more like bird resistant--so I need to get in there quick.

Asparagus growing, garlic harvesting, losing more cucumbers, and eating some fruit

 

Asparagus (and a few weeds) to the front, artichoke and raspberry (and a lot of weeds) behind, May 2026

Check out my asparagus!  I'm trying to keep it weeded as well as possible, as that bindweed means business.  At the back are the transplanted artichokes, not expected to produce this year, plus the very weedy raspberry patch (lots of little berries on these).  I've got at least 10 cm of wood chips on this bed.  In fact, every bed that's mulched this way should have a minimum of 10 cm, but I'm trying for even more in places.  I haven't picked any spears this year, in order to let the crowns establish;  I may not pick any next year either, but we'll see.

This weekend my garlic came up somewhat in a rush, because of white rot.  I never had this disease until last year:  the bulbs start to go moldy and if left in storage will just disintegrate.  I won't be able to save any of my own garlic for replanting this year, as it all seems to have it;  instead I'm mincing it all up and freezing it, and will buy new bulbs in the autumn for replanting.  I'm a bit sad about this:  I've been self sufficient in garlic for many years now, but my winning streak is broken.  I'll probably plant the new cloves in planters instead of directly in the ground, in the hopes they'll avoid it next year.  It looks like my overwintered onions grown in containers are free from the infection, so that gives me a little hope.

The son, daughter and I did some work on the now empty garlic bed, digging out grass and weeds and raking out roots.  In fact, we had to stop before the bed was all clear as we completely filled our five composters!  Well, they weren't empty to begin with--most were about half full already, but still:  a lot of compost material.  I was able to spread a few wheelbarrows of wood chips on the edge of the bed, where it meets the next bed (previously mulched and growing peas and beetroot).  I'll carry on clearing the bed this week and will just have to make a pile until some of the older stuff compacts down.  Luckily this time of year that doesn't take long.  I may sow some turnip and beetroot seeds here, or possibly transplant fennel, or even pak choi though that's a risky idea:  slugs love love love pak choi, and it would probably survive better in the kitchen garden (except I don't have any room!).  It's a rather big bed, so I might even have space to do all of the above.

Of my sad cucumbers, all but one of the pickling types have bit the dust:  I think it was slugs.  Of the salad types, four--of five--are still growing.  I have a lot of little seedlings growing in trays from a very late sowing, but none are quite big enough to transplant.  To be honest, four salad cucumber plants is adequate--but I definitely need more pickling cucs.  They need to get a move on!  It seems like the potting compost may have been the culprit in the early demise of all the other cuc plants.

In other news, we've begun picking strawberries, gooseberries and redcurrants!  It seems early?  Maybe not.  We don't have many strawberry plants (all at home), but there are two bushes each of gooseberries and redcurrants, and all four are completely loaded.  I put some wire over the strawberry plants, and also netted my small Morello cherry tree, not quite ripe but close.  What's more, I thinned out the apples on my two trees:  no more than two fruits per cluster.  It hurts, but I did it;  I know from past experience that big clusters have little fruits and little clusters have big fruits.  I want big fruits.