Addressing the hungry gap

Seed trays on my patio, May 2018

The "hungry gap" is an old-fashioned term for the period in mid spring to early summer when the stored vegetables and fruits have run out and the new season stuff hasn't begun producing yet.  It's certainly the most challenging time of year for vegetable gardeners, and I need to consider it carefully for my (future) goal of full self reliance in vegetables.

My present goal is self reliance for six months of this year, and when I started this challenge last month we were just coming out of the hungry gap.  Last spring and summer I planned ahead for my winter and spring vegetables:  in 2017 I sowed/planted purple sprouting broccoli and sweetheart cabbages, leeks, Savoy cabbages, Brussels sprouts and kale all with the hungry gap in mind.

Only the sweetheart cabbages performed well however;  the others either finished too soon (sprouts), too late (half the Savoys are still heading up), or were just insignificant (broccoli, kale and leeks). 

My chard was self sown, also in 2017, and put out a big flush of growth before going to seed at the end of May;  I actually have a big patch of self-sown mizuna too which I've barely touched, as we've been trying to keep up with the cabbage--there's only so many leaves three people can eat, no matter how much they like them!  We do like them luckily, but a plateful per day is plenty.

So the two heavy hitters of the hungry gap were chard and cabbage:  both leafy greens.  We're still harvesting both and in need of some variety for next spring, please--preferably non-leafy. 

In our case, I think the key is to preserve as much of the summer and autumn harvest as possible;  I'd love to still be eating those zuccini pickles, or have a few more squashes put by.  And maybe get the season started a little earlier by growing under glass:  one day we'll get that greenhouse.

In the meantime, I've got seeds sown and plants growing for 2019's hungry gap:  cabbages, chard, leeks, kale, Brussels sprouts, purple broccoli...