Preserves yet?

There has been a serious lack of preserves happening here.  I'm not sure what's going on, but I really haven't done as much as I should have.  Last year my preserved vegetables are what got us to the end of the Challenge. 

So far I have: 

• A bag and a half of frozen purple broccoli
• A bag of frozen chard stems
• Not quite a full bag of each frozen mixed berries and frozen Morello cherries
• Several medium jars of dried chard, dried celery and strawberry chips (strawberries picked at a farm)
• One large jar of sauerkraut (from a gift cabbage)
• A small jar of pickled snap peas

I don't think this is going to last us all the way from September to November.  I need to up my game, and fast.  Last year I was pickling all sorts, salting beans and drying herbs and kale. 

Too much...

Last year I took on my allotment, in addition to my own home kitchen garden.  At the time I wondered if it was a bit too ambitious.  Well, I'm still wondering...

Most of the seeds I put down have been swamped by weeds--the exception being the tall peas which went down very early (in February), which had enough of a headstart to outgrow them.  The dwarf peas and broad beans didn't have that advantage, but their weeds grew after they'd reached their full height, so didn't hamper their potential either. 

However, nearly everything else is just pathetic.  There are small carrots and beets, but probably not worth having now.  The husband and I sheet mulched a large section which had spring onion and lettuce seed--there were a few in there, but after three months and still the size of seedlings, I was willing to admit defeat.

The whole patch isn't a complete write off just yet--the pumpkins and potatoes seem to be doing well, and there are some climbing beans forming.  The Brussels sprouts seem to be all right too.  All of these except the beans were planted directly into holes cut in the cardboard sheet mulch;  the beans have been hand weeded carefully.

When it comes to weeds, I "chop and drop;" though I do try to pull them up by the roots if possible, I'm not too bothered if I can't get them.  At this time of year in particular (hot and dry-ish) I'll chop and drop at home in my kitchen garden too--though there are much fewer weeds and they are more likely to come up by the roots (soft soil).  If it's cool and wet though, this kind of mulch is prime slug habitat so it's not something I swear by. 

Lovely berries

It's been a good year for my berry bushes.  We've finished the red raspberries, blueberries and redcurrants, and are nearly done with blackcurrants.  The gooseberries are just ripening now, and the yellow raspberries and grapes(!) are forming. 

We actually had a small handful of yellow rasps already--they are a primocane variety which are supposed to bear in autumn, but there was one uncut cane from last year which fruited at the same time as the red rasps.  I might treat it as a floricane in the future, as it never seems to have enough time to ripen in autumn.

Most of the berries have been frozen (the son has been promised jam), though many raspberries and all blueberries were eaten fresh:  yum.

As an aside, it was an exceptional year for berberis berries too.  We don't really eat these;  they taste nice but are very seedy so we leave them for the birds.  This summer, after a few years of careful pruning, there were many branches low enough for our chickens to self harvest too.  At one point it was extremely overgrown, and my plan is to have a spreading but low growing shrub which the chickens can eat directly from.  Nearly there!

In the allotment, July 2019

I really need to get my camera to the allotment!  I'm up there almost every day, even though we don't have chickens there currently, but I still have no photos of it.

Tthe husband, son and I got the final uncultivated section of the allotment all sheet mulched, and looks so much tidier.  I suspect we will have to sheet mulch again once it has fully broken down, but the wood chips should help prevent new weed seedlings from germinating, which is half the battle.

After finishing the sheet mulch (and much carting back and forth with wheelbarrow and wood chips--we pretty much depleted the whole pile from the communal waste), I planted out some cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli next to the strawberry plants, also newly transplanted.  I covered the seedlings with a bit of insect mesh and an old net curtain;  I just draped them over loosely and secured the edges with bricks.  The mesh/curtain is mainly to stop the pigeons eating them, but will also keep the cabbage white butterflies off for now.  And I've been gradually sowing rows of root vegetables:  I push aside the wood chips, put down an inch or two of potting compost on top of the cardboard, sow seed, and then gently push back the wood chips.  If it stays dry they may not come to much, but I thought I'd take a chance at least.

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The broad beans finished at last, and I pulled up the plants and laid cardboard over them.  I haven't replanted just yet, or even covered the cardboard with mulch (though the wood chips are finished, there's still some partly composted horse bedding at the other end of the allotments).

The yellow mange tout peas are still producing, though they're slowing down, and I've left several pods to develop for seed.  The regular peas are maturing and some of the pods are starting to dry, which is my intention for this crop.  I want lots and lots of pea soup over winter, and even more rows of peas next year.

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As far as everything else goes, it's all drowning in weeds!  Well, the potatoes and pumpkins are less weedy comparatively, and both seem to have good growth;  there are several small pumpkins forming now, but I'm not planning on digging up potatoes for a little while longer.  There are some little beans forming though the plants are sparse;  cucumbers too:  small plants but a few fruits starting.  There are a couple beets of moderate size, and I think the row of shallots is about ready to come up.

From now, I'll be trying to get a few more winter/spring brassicas transplanted, and a few more rows of roots sown.

Brassicas, Peas and poppies

Nearly big enough, July 2019

 The Peas and Beans bed also doubles as the Brassicas bed;  once the early peas are gone, the winter brassicas can transplant into their places.  Well, the snap peas and mange tout peas are about finished, but I still managed to get some brassicas into the gaps this spring too, such as the above cauliflower.  I planted several, but most of them stayed pretty small--this one is about 8 inches diameter in the photo. 

I've got some kale and purple sprouting broccoli seedlings to put in once I take out the mange tout--the snap peas are already interplanted with the cauliflowers, but there will be a good sized gap once the mange tout are gone.

I'll also plant out some winter cabbages at the allotment, in the newly sheet mulched area to the front--maybe some kale there too.

Color in the Peas and Beans bed, July 2019

I didn't have the heart to pull up all the poppies that sprang up amongst the peas--I just like them too much (it's hard to tell, but I did pull up some).  I'll probably get them out when I do the mange tout, and there are some others in the Roots bed too, not causing too much mayhem.

A new strawberry bed

I've been faithfully collecting a few boxes a day from my work and sheet mulching the last uncultivated section of my allotment with them.  Unlike last winter, where I didn't have enough organic matter to put on top and had to leave the cardboard bare, weighted down by bricks and bits of pallet wood--I've got these all covered tidily with wood chips, scavenged from the communal waste.

I got hold of my neighbor who previously promised me some extra strawberry plants from her big bed, and we made a date for me to collect them.  In exchange I brought her some homemade oatmeal cookies--and a box of partly composted chicken bedding (manure and straw) to put on her strawberry bed after we pillaged it.

So the husband and I brought them to the allotment and transplanted around 30 in the sheet mulch.  The weeds underneath won't be dead yet, so we just put some of that chicken bedding mixed with sand and planted in that, and tucked the wood chips around to keep the moisture in.  They'll need watering regularly for a while I think.  And hopefully next year we'll have lots of plants and berries of our own.

(We've already been twice to the pick your own farm and brought home 15+ kilos of strawberries for freezing, drying, and gorging on fresh;  we might go back one more time too.)

Strawberry chips, July 2019

State of the flock, July 2019

We had several weeks again without buying eggs, but have had to go back to the market this weekend.  The hens have slowed down production, though we have been getting a couple duck eggs a week from the newly adopted Campbells.  We've found them variously on the lawn, near the pond and under the hydrangea--there might be other we haven't found.  We have a lot of hiding places out back, and they've been free ranging.

The ducklings both seem to be growing male plumage:  oh well.  At least we have two females, and if the males get too aggressive next spring, we may eat one--or both.

Handsome fellas, July 2019

Cookie, our Pekin bantam, has finally stopped laying and gone broody.  Her friend Rainbow, an ex factory farm hen has once more decided to join her.  I've managed to get some eggs from the same work colleague who gave me the Leghorn eggs last summer.  This time we'll separate the two broody hens from the rest of the flock;  we didn't last year, and only three of six eggs hatched.  I don't know if Rainbow can really hatch eggs, but there are enough for them both, so we'll try her;  she and Cookie are sitting together in the same nest box anyway.

All chickens are back together in the garden now--none at the allotment.  We want to put up a bigger house and run for them there, but it's not an urgent project.

Staying in

Instead of going out and enjoying my garden, I'm hiding inside because of hayfever.  Last summer was so hot and dry that the grass flowered quickly (thankfully it's only grass pollen so I'm not suffering all year like some people)--I wasn't affected for too long.  It's been bothering me for about a month this year--hope it finishes soon.

So some things are being put off:  I have way too many snap peas and mange tout peas because I haven't been out picking them.  The broad beans got kind of overwhelming at one point too, but I think they're just about over now.  I might try brining/fermenting the snap peas if I can get out there long enough to hunt them all out.  The son helped me pick a bowl of mange tout for our dinner yesterday but we gave up after we filled the bowl--there are still too many out there.

I've also not been spending time with the chickens and ducks--I like to sit out with them a couple times a week at least;  I'm not sure they still remember me!  The son has been doing most of their care recently, but no one's been socializing with them, poor things.

I tried drinking nettle leaf tea in previous years but have given that up as it seemed to have no effect.  I read a suggestion to sting myself with nettles instead;  preliminary testing seems to give temporary relief, but I'm not sure if it's truly the nettles or simply a coincidence.  If it was a choice between nettle stings and hayfever, the nettle wins hands down--but I really can't be running out to the nettle patch at all hours, particularly after bedtime. 

Thankfully most of the hard work is now done, both at home and at the allotment.  I've been muscling through when I have no choice, and staying indoors looking wistfully out the window otherwise.

Food totals June 2019

View from the back door, June 2019

Vegetables:

126.5 oz spring cabbage
104 oz chard
1 oz mint leaves
42 oz broad beans
34 oz mange tout (yellow and green)
4.5 oz spring onion
0.5 oz baby carrots
4.5 oz turnip
8 oz artichokes
5.5 oz lettuce
4 oz kale

84 garlic bulbs (unweighed)

Total: 334.5 oz, or 20 lb 14.5 oz

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.  Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.

Fruit:

3 oz redcurrants (incomplete)
24 oz Morello cherries
18 raspberries
3 strawberries

Eggs:

Total: 206 eggs from 12 hens and 2 ducks
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg)

Preserves:

1 small jar dried mint
2.5 medium jars dehydrated strawberry chips (picked at a local farm)

Homebrew:

Elderberry/blackberry wine still fermenting
Cider still fermenting