Catching up quickly before Christmas 2020

Well, the chickens and ducks are home and enclosed--and very dissatisfied with their lot.  The husband and son set up the yard on the Saturday, then I assisted in putting the netting over the top on Sunday, while the daughter was asleep;  it was windy and rainy and we all got very cold and wet.  The husband and son said only a couple chickens escaped (!!) during the transfer from allotment to garden, but they're all safely home now, and none have escaped here.  Yet.

We're looking forward to another lot of fresh garden veg for our Christmas dinner, including Brussels sprouts, a very fine cauliflower, and greens.  Not to mention some pumpkin (does it count as fresh if it was picked in October? It's hanging out with some friends on the dresser in the living room).  I also made the Christmas pudding last month, after saying I would, then saying I wouldn't, then relenting again.  I made it with our own dried plums, dried figs, and of course our own eggs;  unlike last year, a few hens are still laying for us.  

There's still a little more tidying to do out in the veg patch, and some more sheet mulch at the allotment;  and maybe I'll start one tray of onion seeds indoors at the very end of the month, but really that's it for gardening for 2020.  I'm taking the rest of the month off for blogging, and will return in January 2021 with a grand total of food--I've still been recording my daily/monthly totals on paper, just not been logging them here;  it'll be a big job totaling it all up.  I look forward to seeing how it compares with previous years.  

Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The best laid plans...

A few days ago I received a package in the mail from the village council, the body in charge of allotments at our village.  It contained a detailed booklet ennumerating all the new requirements for hygiene and risk management regarding avian flu.  Once more, bird flu is a problem in the country and once more, all domestic poultry and fowl will need to go under cover--probably until spring.  

This last happened in the winter of 2016/2017, when we had to keep our chickens in a small yard with netting on top in order to completely exclude wild birds, as well as some other biosecurity requirements.  We had 14 chickens in total, and they were confined for about three miserable months in a very small enclosure.  

After reading over the allotment requirements, we have decided they are just too restrictive and would be cruel to keep our chickens confined there;  one of the stipulations is that they not be outdoors--not even with netting overhead--unless someone is physically supervising them.  I can't lock them up in their coop there--it's way too small.  They'll have to come home, where I can supervise them all day.

To that end, the husband went and got some tall posts and has started to put them up, to make a permanent yard here at home;  thankfully we still have a good sized coop here.  He'll get the gate up and posts in, put up wire around them, and then net the top.  It should be about as tall as the yard at the allotment allowing us to go in without crouching, and covering a larger area than their yard at the allotment.  All this needs to be done by 14 December--just about a week away.

Our three ducks will be going in too, as they are included in the order.  They've been free ranging for a few weeks, and I even moved the fence surrounding part of the veg patch to give them access last week.  I'll leave them out for as long as possible, but they'll have to be under cover by 14 Dec too.  It's going to be a hard winter for birds.

Tidying up for winter 2020

Pretty, but not very large kale

First frost was right on time, in the last week of November.  It wasn't hard enough to actually touch most of the garden, only slightly affecting the lawn and front.  We have had cold enough temps to frost for several nights in a row now, but I haven't really seen it--not even at the allotment which is much more open than our sheltered garden at home.

I did a little bit of tidying up here at home anyhow, pulling out some spent plants and weeds, laying them down on the soil to break down in place.  There are a lot of brassicas still standing such as the somewhat measly kale pictured above and a couple of good looking cauliflowers (a strong candidate for Thanksgiving but ultimately passed over in favor of cabbage and Brussels sprouts). 

It's really about time to let our three ducks in to do a bit of work flattening what I've missed, and to do some slug hunting.  They were confined to the Perennials section for most of the autumn so that we humans could enjoy a poo-free lawn;  however, they are free ranging again and I need to move the chicken wire surrounding the veg patch so they can access it but not the patio or gate.

I'm still working on digging out grass at the allotment;  the husband has dug out a little and also sheet mulched a corner of it with cardboard and horse manure/straw.  The son and I have had a few more fires up there in the evening--enough to scorch some small circles of grass.  It's a more fun method than digging, but not making a very big dent!  I wish our fencing situation there was robust enough to let the chickens have at at, as I know a winter of ten busy hens would go a long way towards grass eradication. 

Self seeded winter salads

 

Radicchio:  bigger than when I transplanted it!  Oct 2020

After a few months off, we're eating little side salads again.  Even I can see the incongruence:  summer is salad time, winter is cooked vegetable time, right?  Well, I just so happen to be lousy at growing actual lettuce and stuff.  I mean, the slugs and bugs almost always get them--I even lost some once to a rogue rabbit (how did it even get here?  We're a long paved maze of side streets away from the nearest field)!  I've mostly given up on traditional lettuce--though I do have a few small ones at the allotment from a free packet of seeds, still alive.  But very small and not likely to get much bigger now at the end of November.

However, this time of year I have some non-lettuce salad greens which have been successfully self seeding for me for a while;  the best of them are chard, miners lettuce and mizuna.  The celery I have is a cooking variety, though when blanched it makes for a tender and mild salad addition.  I'm not currently blanching any, though I really should do a few.  These are all self seeded plants too.

When there's a heavy frost these plants can't be picked for salad, but they tend to shrug it off once it thaws again.  My kind of food!

The radicchio pictured above is a new experiment for me, and though the plants are marginally bigger now than in the photo, I really don't know if they're going to be salad worthy this winter.   They were not self seeded:  I sowed them in trays and transplanted.  I do however, have self seeded Belgian endive growing in various places which I am attempting to blanch for later salads.  I cut down the tall flowering stems and put a bucket over the plants.  Hope the slugs aren't having a party under there.

Coming up: homegrown Thanksgiving

Cauliflowers in front, Brussels sprouts behind, Oct 2020

I'm kind of impressed with myself and the family for getting enough work done on the garden and allotment this year to still have measurable fresh food out there.  It's mainly brassicas, celery and some leeks;  however there are also a few more runner beans and tomatoes, and the winter self-seeding greens are now coming up:  mizuna, miners lettuce, lambs lettuce.  That's not counting the potatoes, pumpkins and squashes still hanging out in the kitchen (and living room)!

I really can't take all the credit for this, as the husband and son did step up this spring and summer while I was recovering from anemia.  I did my part too however, and we're all looking forward to some homegrown holiday eating. 

This year our Thanksgiving menu will feature:

• Mashed or roast potatoes
• Brussels sprouts, cabbage, leek, green beans (frozen from earlier this year)
• Gravy with herbs and garlic 
• Pumpkin pie (including our own hens' eggs)
• Blackberry/elderberry wine (while I did not grow these, I picked them and brewed the wine myself)
  

We're only feeding our own family of four, as the country is in lockdown and we're not allowed to meet our friends as usual.  I've suggested a pie swap as a consolation--we normally both bring a pie, and my offering is always pumpkin of course.

Bonfire Night at the allotment

A photo of my allotment! That's me in the center, Nov 2020

We're back in lockdown, starting on Bonfire Night (5th of November), so what better way to celebrate/commiserate than take our bonfire to the allotment!

We had a good view of the our neighbors' overly large fireworks, being somewhat central to the village but just on the edge where it meets the fields, so no pesky streetlights obscuring the explosions, but also far enough off for it not to be overwhelmingly loud (which they were as we walked both to and from the allotment that evening). 

I expected to see a few more bonfires than just ours there, as they are permitted after dark except in high summer, but the only other one we saw was not on the site.  

That morning, the son (and daughter in her buggy) and I carried three plastic garden chairs up to our allotment, and after he had cared for the chickens and gone on to school, I collected some discarded sunflower stalks from the communal waste area, along with a very large branch with a lot of smaller branches and twigs on it.  These I broke up and separated into kindling and wood.  After digging up a few clumps of grass for the chickens (which I try to do every morning when I visit), the daughter and I went home to prepare there.

I put together a sack of newspapers with matches, and another with hot dogs and marshmallows--and hot chocolate in a thermos later on.  When the son got home from school he collected one more sack of small cut wood from our woodpile plus three green bamboo lengths (to skewer our dinner on) from the Perennials section out back.  We were ready to go!

And go we did.  When the husband got home from work we walked straight out and started the fire, toasted our hot dogs and marshmallows, drank our hot chocolate, and enjoyed the night.  Even the daughter at eight months was content to sit and watch the fire and have a bite or two of hot dog.  We stayed until the fire was down to embers.

Speaking of embers--that was my main motivation for celebrating with a bonfire (well, it was more campfire size than bonfire) this year.  I had a bright idea that burning one at the allotment would put a check on the grass and weeds there.  In fact, I've suggested we have a little fire there every weekend this winter, in a slightly different spot, and maybe that'll knock back the grass long enough to get the vegetables going next spring. 

Some pumpkins from the allotment

Not all of them, Oct 2020

The son and I picked most of the pumpkins and squashes last week and brought them home from the allotment over two days (we were walking and couldn't carry them all in one go).  The above photo is the first day's haul;  after the second trip the bench was covered completely, despite the fact that we'd carved one and eaten three small ones.

RIP, Oct 2020

We were given a pumpkin two years ago by a fellow allotmenter and have growing and saving seeds from that one specimen since.  I don't know the variety, other than it's a culinary pumpkin with very thick flesh--not thin-walled like the carving varieties.  For Halloween we carved the orange-est one anyway, then baked it the next day for our Sunday lunch, plus pumpkin pie.  A very tasty pumpkin.

They all had several days to dry out and are now inside on display, to be gradually eaten.  I'm a little disappointed in the squashes:  all pretty small, and most not fully ripened unlike the pumpkins.  We'll eat the unripe ones first and I'll dehydrate some for later this winter, to go in stews and casseroles.  I'm going to try and dry a batch of "zoodles", long thin strips to be used like pasta.

State of the flock, October 2020

A few Brussels sprouts, Oct 2020

I had expected a certain rescue hen to die over summer, as she was looking tired and sad, but she perked up after a treatment of Verm-X, an herbal remedy for parasites.  She's with all the rest of her nine friends at the allotment, hard at work making us compost from all the grass clumps and weeds I've been digging up and chucking in.  Still a lot more to dig up--but the chickens will be there all winter, unless something untoward happens.  I'm actually planning on bringing them home next summer in order to grow stuff in their yard at the allotment.  Pumpkins and squashes maybe?

At home we are down to three quackers.  One of the females was found dead last week, in unexplained circumstances.  She may have met with an accident;  maybe she had an internal problem or maybe she just wore out, like many of our rescue chickens do.  I believe that the high production breeds just don't live too long because it takes so much out of them to keep laying so many eggs--perhaps this is the same for ducks.

As it is, the two drakes have been kind of agitated since they lost their friend (the other duck doesn't seem so bothered).  It's hard to tell with ducks, but it does seem like they miss her and are searching for her.  Maybe just a coincidence. 

Egg production in total is around 4-5 eggs a day now, from eleven female birds.

Keeping the dehydrator fired up

Runner beans and apple slices, Oct 2020

My first dehydrator met with a terrible accident involving a stand mixer and a water jug.  There were no witnesses and tragically the dehydrator perished in the event.  It was such a useful appliance that the husband went out and bought a new one within a few weeks, pictured above.  Like its predecessor, it has gone through some heavy bouts of drying (followed by prolonged periods of quiet).  This past week it's been churning through three sacks of apples given to us by a neighbor.  I'm finally working on the third sack now.

Saved the nicest for eating, Oct 2020

I peel and halve the apples and core with a melon baller;  then I run the halves over my small mandoline to make thin, uniform slices.  That's all:  they go straight onto the drying trays from there.  The son and husband occasionally help out with the preparation--the son is pretty good at peeling (he's ten).

My dehydrator holds slices from 10 apples at once, although when two trays have become partly dry I combine them and put two more apples on the freed up tray;  I also rotate the trays every hour or so and the slices will dry in around six or eight hours.  It works out I can generally dry 16 or more apples in a day this way.

Also dehydrated recently: runner beans.  These I chop and then blanch in boiling water for about four minutes;  after draining they go straight onto a tray.  About a pound of pods fits on one tray, and they take at least a day and a half to dry.  Similar treatment for cabbage leaves, though they dry much more quickly:  maybe six hours tops.

Some almonds, some to come

Not every almond, Oct 2020

 My almond tree, like the grape vine climbing it, is getting away from me!  It's been producing 100-150 almonds a year for the last few years, and this year looks to be similar--only quite a few are now out of reach.  The husband and son went out and picked a sackful with a ladder;  the husband even climbed onto the garage roof.  

However, some almonds still remain.  We may still get some yet once they fall--if we find them, that is.  The tree is tucked away in a corner we don't visit very often this time of year, though the husband has made it slightly easier to access by putting down a little patio there, next to the newly enlarged duck pond.

New patio next to the duck pond (almond tree trunk at the very back), Sep 2020

Sowing and (hopefully) growing in autumn

Radicchio seedlings, Sep 2020

 I've since planted out some of my late summer seedlings, including radicchio, kale, pak choi and iceberg lettuce.  Some have gone in at the allotment, some at home.  To be honest, I'm not too confident about their chances--particularly at the allotment, with the slugs and pigeons there.  The ones here at home have been in long enough to have grown a little, so maybe they're established enough to withstand the slugs (no pigeon pressure here, thankfully).  I hope.

The husband has put in the new garlic crop, using the biggest heads saved from our harvest earlier this summer;  it's all at the allotment.  As the heads weren't very big or plentiful this year, he's on assignment to buy a few more from the shop for planting out, too.  I anticipate we will run out of our own garlic this winter unless we really ration it.

Still growing in seed trays:  spring cabbages.  Still to sow:  peas (got a few volunteer seedlings already), cauliflowers, broad beans. 

I picked grapes!

Trying one, Sep 2020

Not sure, Sep 2020

I asked the husband to take a photo of the basket of grapes and send it to me, but got these two photos instead.  Please take my word for it that there was a basketful--and that I didn't actually pick all the clusters because I couldn't reach them all;  I left about three or four for the birds.

Actually the birds alerted me the grapes were ready:  a family of sparrows were tweeting very happily in the almond tree, which is entwined with a grape vine.  I knew what that meant and I went storming over, to their great dismay.  They scattered and I quickly got a basket and secateurs to get as many bunches as I could.  Luckily only a few grapes had been vandalized and I weighed the remainder at 9 oz.  

Not a huge haul, true.  I ate most of them myself within a few days;  the son and daughter weren't too impressed, though the husband approved.  Variety Phoenix, and I bought the cuttings off ebay several years ago.  They have a nice sweet flavor but aren't seedless--somewhat of a drawback.  

 In the future I may make raisins if faced with a large enough harvest but if not, even a basketful of free grapes once a year is a nice treat, particularly since they are tucked away in the corner of the Perennials section and not actually taking up any ground space--or even casting any shade. 

I have another vine right up next to my house, which is supposed to grow up a specially made arbor in order to shade my kitchen window, but I claim late pregnancy and new baby as my excuses for not training it this spring (it had no fruit this year).  I'll definitely make that a priority next spring.

Eating and preserving runner beans

Runners, Sep 2020

 After a very slow start, my runner beans finally started producing enough to actually bother with.  I suspect it was the sunny/dry weather that stopped them setting any beans, despite flowering profusely.  It's a little cooler and wetter and there are lots of beans. 

But.  

It's the end of September.  Even though they are still flowering like mad, I know I only have a couple weeks left, if that.

From left: dried figs, bottled apples, dried runner beans, dried peas; Sep 2020

We love runner beans (and for the past few summers they have felt like a real treat, seeing as their season has been so short) and have been eating them every other day or so, but I'm still trying to skim off some of the harvest and put them in the dehydrator.  I chop them into big bite sized pieces, blanch them for a few minutes in boiling water, then dehydrated until brittle. 

Oh, and those baskets of apples from earlier this month?  I bottled apple halves as shown in the photo above, made applesauce (frozen), made a few jars of apple butter; and along with eating them fresh for several weeks, baked them unsweetened with just a little cinnamon and nutmeg and served with homemade custard:  a big hit.  Oh, and the peels and cores are fermenting into scrap vinegar on my counter too. We finally got to the end of them--now it's time to start scavenging some from further afield!

Eating and preserving figs

My Brown Turkey fig tree is only small but it's getting more productive every year.  I'll need to give it a little bit of pruning this winter after it dies back, as some of the branches are getting very long and floppy.

For the past month I've been picking a few figs every week to go into the dehydrator;  I cut them in quarters, slip off the skins (when very ripe, they just come right off) and then slice the fruit thinly.  They take about a day and a half in my dehydrator.

It's a very nice fig for eating fresh, and the son and I have plans for some homemade fig newtons, a type of cookie I haven't eaten for years.  I think I'll make some almond shortcrust pastry and fill it with some rehydrated fig paste.  They're already very sweet, so I won't add any sugar.  

I'm also planning them for the Christmas pudding, as my newest effort made in January had to be thrown out earlier this summer:  it was covered in mold.  Actually it looked like the white mold like on Brie and wasn't entirely unpleasant (I had a taste), but it wasn't the result I was aiming for.  I keep putting off making the new one, but now I've got some dried figs there's no excuse.

Eating and preserving apples

Laxton Fortune apple tree, 2020

Both our small apple trees are laden this year, unlike last year when we got none from either.  I've been picking four or five from Laxton Fortune every few days for two weeks now, and yesterday I sent the son out with a big basket with an injunction to fill it, preferrably with all the remaining apples.  He filled it all right, but didn't get all of them.

They make for excellent eating fresh:  juicy and a good balance between tart and sweet, and very thin skin.  I thinned them (and the other tree, Sparta) earlier this summer trying to reduce the fruit clusters down to one or two only, but it's obvious that I missed some--several are too small to bother with. 

Besides eating fresh, which I have been doing with vigor, I am now in the position of having a large basket of apples to preserve.  What to make?  I'm not making cider this year, the usual contender.  Apple butter, applesauce, dried apples?  I better decide soon!

The other tree, Sparta, is just about ready for picking now;  we've eaten a few and will no doubt soon be emptying the tree.  While Laxton Fortune is supposed to be a good cooker as well as eater, Sparta is really more of an eater (aka dessert apple).  Maybe I'll dry some when faced with a big basket of these.  Wish me luck!

Eating and preserving cabbage

Cabbage and poppies, July 2020

 I have two kinds of cabbage in my garden this summer:  a pointed red one and a ball-headed green one.  Both are mostly ready to harvest now, amounting to a dozen or so medium-sized heads.  

The reds have been the first for the chop;  I've been blanching and dehydrating the tougher green-purple outer leaves and making sauerkraut with the tender red inner leaves.  Those inner leaves have also been made into coleslaw and the outer have been cooked for several dinners too.  It's a great tasting cabbage and has not been too badly affected by caterpillars and slugs this summer (though the ducks may have helped on that score as they eat both).  I don't remember the variety though!  I just remember it's an F1, which I don't normally buy--but it was the only red cabbage in the £1 sale.

It will be on to the green cabbages next, again an F1 of unknown variety.  They have been a little more nibbled than the reds--I think the butterflies prefer the green brassica leaves to the red ones for laying eggs, or at least it seems so in my garden.  These green cabbage leaves are also more tender than the red variety I have.  Still, I will be dehydrating and hope to have a few big jars of sauerkraut by the end of the harvest.

I really need to get a packet of spring cabbage seeds;  for several years I've grown Pixie variety over winter and it has always withstood frost and chicken attacks to form good heads in spring/early summer.  I didn't get new seed last year and missed out on them this spring.  I better get it on the to-do list.

Looking ahead to winter and spring

Quince seedling in a container, July 2020

 Now that it's mid-August I'm starting to plan for winter and next spring in the veg garden.  I already have some things planted out which have a long growing season, like the purple sprouting broccoli and leeks, both of which should be ready next spring and I've about eight more purple broccoli not yet planted out.  I also have some red kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower for autumn and winter.  But I'm starting some more seeds now and into the next month too.

This week I've sown a tray each of green kale and red escarole--I've never tried growing escarole before, though I have some Belgian endive:  I think these are the same species or closely related. 

I also have some garlic from this year's harvest to plant out next month.  Along with this I'll sow some more cauliflower and peas for a spring harvest.  Though I've overwintered broad beans (and cauliflower), I've never tried with peas.  The purveyor from which I bought this variety writes that these ones can overwinter, so I will try--I'm moving away from regular peas and towards snap peas instead, so I'll use up this last packet and see how it goes and if it's worth saving seed from.  If I get any seed from it, that is.

I may be sowing some green manure seeds in the bare spots at the allotment too, mainly to keep down weeds, but also to improve the soil a bit.  Little by little I'm digging up the grassy sward which is my allotment, and I don't want it recolonized with any other undesirables.  Currently we're keeping the bare spots mulched with stable bedding (heavy on straw and light on manure)--also a good soil improvement for the long term.  I may try a comparison between the two methods in different parts of the allotment.

I don't currently have any broad bean seeds left, though I will probably put in one more seed order later in the year, from The Real Seed catalog;  they do some interesting varieties which the large companies don't offer.  I usually buy my seeds when they are on sale, which unfortunately this smaller company never does.  But I want the seeds badly enough to pay full price for them, including a packet of broad beans this year.

Whitecurrants at last

More pink than white

I don't even know how long I've had this whitecurrant bush, but I guess around five years;  this is the first year I've eaten any whitecurrants.  Hooray!  

...Though to be honest I'm not sure they were worth the wait.  Kind of sour, pretty seedy--and not enough of them to do anything but just eat them (a few at a time).

---

In other garden news, I've been picking blackberries, also in the Perennials section--though not intentionally planted ones.  They're weeds sown by birds and trying to take over;  I really don't want them growing in my garden, reaching out to claw me when I'm not looking.  Tasty berries though.  

And my four ducks are picking caterpillars off my cabbages and nasturtiums, or so the husband assures me--I have not witnessed it myself.  We made a corridor from their pond area to the veg patch and they are allowed in while supervised, but excluded from the wider garden in order to concentrate their efforts (on both veg patch and pond).

Calorie dense veg (I wish I had some)

Kale and broccoli for dinner, July 2020

While I'm not officially doing the Vegetable Challenge this year, I'm still trying to serve garden veg daily for dinner.  However, this has meant a lot of chard and kale recently.  Not that I'm complaining:  we like them both!  But I'm kind of missing those roots, zuccinis, beans and other calorie dense vegetables. 

The only roots we have are potatoes and a few onions--we're having potatoes once a week but the onions won't be ready till autumn I think.  I didn't bother sowing any root veg seeds at home, but I think I should have--normally I don't get much success from direct seeding because of slugs and bugs, but it appears that the slug population is much reduced this year:  possibly because the ducks had several weeks on the veg patch over winter.  I'll know for next spring--too late now.

As for zuccinis, yes I have a couple plants, and no they aren't doing much.  As usual.  I don't understand how everyone seems to drown in zuccini when I can barely keep my plants alive.  I doubt we'll be getting any of our own--hopefully people at the allotments are having better success, and will give me some of theirs.

Beans:  the first batch of plants at the allotment are all gone except one single vine, which is very small and sad.  The second batch, in a different place, is now starting to flower.  The beans at home have been flowering longer and have set a few beans, but none are big enough to eat yet.  I don't know why these ones are so late--I got them planted out mid-May and it's August now.  Hopefully hopefully hopefully we'll start eating them by the end of the week.  Hopefully.

Runner beans at home, July 2020

Summer weeding

I'm getting a little bit more gardening done now that my iron levels are creeping up;  and the daughter is four months old now and can watch me from her stroller or laid on a blanket on the grass.  Or sometimes she's even asleep upstairs (not reliably yet though).  Thankfully there's no heavy tasks to be done this time of year;  it's mainly harvesting, watering pots and planters, and a little light weeding.

Actually the allotment could do with some heavier weeding, which I have been accomplishing a little at a time.  Since we now have chickens there, we visit both morning and evening--mine is usually the morning slot, along with the son and daughter.  I've been spending 10 minutes or so every morning digging up clumps of grass and weeds and chucking them over the fence into the chicken yard;  the chickens are very happy for some greenstuff, now they've scratched up all their own.  I make sure there's plenty for everyone (seven currently), and it's usually all eaten by the time I visit next morning.  The son and husband are gradually mulching the bare spots too, to prevent more weeds germinating.

At home, weeding is a lot easier:  the soil is much more enriched and soft and most weeds simply pull out without the need for digging.  I pull them out and then lay them down on the soil to break down. 

I'm not too worried about weeds at home seeing as they are so easy to get rid of, but the allotment has a lot of grass;  it seems like the vegetables surrounded by grass are a lot smaller and weaker.  The cabbages at home are at least twice as big as those at the allotment:  same batch, planted at the same time.  Now that I have a bit more motivation to get it dug up (chickens are hungry!), maybe I can keep on top of it better.

Starting to preserve, July 2020

Though we're not harvesting a lot at the moment, I've started preserving a few things, most notably fruit:  cherries, strawberries and raspberries have all gone in the freezer.  We got a bigger freezer for free from the neighbors this past winter and I've got about six or seven bags of frozen fruit in it (though all but one bag of strawberries we picked at a local farm).  I think once the red raspberries are finally finished at the allotment--they're done at home--I'll make some jam with them;  we're still picking a handful every day or two.

I've also fired up the dehydrator for the first time in a few months;  I made some strawberry chips and have started on the fig harvest with the first three ripe figs.  To fill up the rest of the trays while those figs slowly dry, I've been picking nasturtium leaves;  they work well in stews and casseroles as they aren't spicy after cooking but add a nice tang--and they dry within a few hours.

I tried to brine some chard stems to use as a salty/sour addition to salads but am not particularly enamored with the result.  Not nasty, but just sort of bland.  We generally eat the stems along with the chard, even if we eat them as salad leaves so at least I didn't do a very big batch.  Oh well. 

Speaking of brining, we've been given two big cucumbers from fellow allotmenteers (so far) and I'm considering making pickle spears with one of them.  May they be the first of many, as my own cucumber seedlings withered and died before I even got the chance to plant them out. 

What we're eating, July 2020

Even though we're not doing the Vegetable Challenge this year, I'm keeping vegetables off the shopping list for the time being (exception: onions) and eating from the garden and allotment instead.  Well, there's not much to harvest at the allotment now, though we're still getting a handful of raspberries every other day.  The husband dug up one volunteer potato plant last week--a meal's worth--and we might carry on digging them up one at a time as we seem to have a lot of these volunteers, saving the ones we planted in spring for the main harvest in autumn.

At home we're picking snap peas--though they've almost finished--and kale, mizuna and chard.  The runner beans are flowering profusely--hoping for beans very soon.  The zuccini and other brassicas are still growing; though both the red and green cabbages are starting to form heads they're probably not ready for at least another month though.  There's a few small tomatoes forming, but again, not going to harvest any time soon.

We've finished picking all our cherries and strawberries now, pretty much all the red raspberries, and most of the red and black currants.  The sour Morello cherries went in the freezer, as did most of the strawbs and rasps, but we ate the sweet Stella and Kordia cherries and currants (both in hand and in smoothies).  The yellow rasps are just fruiting, and I'm looking forward to some figs very soon.

State of the flock, July 2020

As of today we are down to 10 chickens, having lost our oldest hen (a rescue) the other day;  there is another rescue hen looking very tired and I doubt she'll be with us much longer.  She, the recently deceased, and two other old hens have been here with us at home while the other seven are at the allotment in a smallish yard. 

The husband put together a coop from shed panels scrounged from the abandoned allotment opposite ours (it's now been taken over by someone new) so there's enough room to sleep 10 chickens, but I don't want to take up that old poorly hen.  She can die at home and her two remaining friends can go up there once she does.  Until then, the three of them are free ranging the non-veg section of the garden every afternoon.

Our two ducks and two drakes are the ones confined to their own yard now, having been free range since early spring.  I want them to work on waterproofing their new enlarged pond--which does hold more water now:  it's a big puddle that seeps away very slowly.  Every day their the dirty water from their three drinking buckets gets emptied into it, and they splash and dabble around in it.  Their yard encompasses it and a little section of the property behind our garage which we call the Robot Club (it's a good hiding place for little boys).  I anticpate giving them periodic free ranging again after a few more weeks.

We're getting four or five eggs a day from the allotment hens and one or two from home.  Our little broody hen Cookie finally gave up sitting after about two or three months and starting laying again;  we decided not to raise chicks this year as we have enough chickens.  If we get down to around seven by next spring, we'll consider it, or possibly adopt some more rescues.

The ducks are laying, but they keep moving their secret nests!  I think they are both laying every day or every other day.  We don't collect them every day as we can't always find them.

What's going on, June 2020

Snap peas, Jun 2020

I took the above photo at the beginning of the month and the peas are about twice as tall now and covered with fat pods.  They're sugar snap peas and so sweet and crispy.  We like them raw in a salad or just very lightly cooked with dinner.

The whole garden has grown about twice as much, actually.  The allotment, not so much;  maybe the potatoes.  The pumpkins and squashes are just thinking about growing now, and the onions (not many) and leeks (same) too--but all still puny.  There are a lot of poppies here at home amongst the vegetables, and I've been gradually pulling them up and laying them down as mulch--it's kind of hard to find the veg through all those pretty flowers.

Like last year, my hayfever has been bad this month.  Hopefully the grass will finish flowering within a few weeks and I can go back to enjoying the outdoors.   The son and husband are still doing some of the work thankfully, though I've got much more stamina than I did when the daughter was born, back in March.  I try to get what I can done in the evenings after the husband is home from work, or at the weekends;  it's easier to get garden stuff done without a three month old baby in tow.

We've gone from a dry hot May to an on again, off again June.  It was hot last week but has been cool and rainy for a few days now.  Our lawn is green and growing again (it was brown and overgrazed) and the ducks and chickens are enjoying it.  Seven of our eleven chickens are at the allotment and the remaining four have been allowed a good amount of free range--they're the oldest and fattest hens so I'm not too worried about them breaking into the vegetable patch (they probably won't find the vegetables hidden in the poppies anyway);  all the jumpers, fliers and escapologists are enclosed in 2 m of wire at the allotment.

Mostly brassicas

Little red cabbage, Jun 2020

The brassicas I planted out earlier have really come on well here in the garden.  The ones at the allotment have been badly affected by slugs (and possibly pigeons--but I haven't caught them at it so not positive);  all the red cabbages except one have completely disappeared there, though the green cabbages are still holding on.  As I had enough spare seedlings I planted the remainder here, and made the decision to have a mostly brassica garden this year;  nearly everything else has gone to the allotment.

However, I did plant a few other things here, including some runner beans (again, the allotment beans are all nearly gone, so I'm glad I've got a few at home), four tomato plants and a dozen cherry tomatoes (these in planters), and half a dozen zuccini plants.  Even though they take up so much room, I thought I'd keep the zuccinis at home seeing as I didn't have enough to spare in case of slugs (I had plenty of spare brassicas).

The brassicas here include red and green cabbages, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli.  I also have some spring purple sprouting broccoli seedlings just about ready to plant out, but am kind of out of room now!  They can grown on a little longer in their pots to hopefully be big enough to outgrow the slugs at the allotment.

Fruit!

Little apples, Jun 2020

I mentioned before that the cherries have started;  so have the strawberries at our allotment (there are maybe two dozen plants total).  The blackcurrants and redcurrants are coloring up, and raspberries are forming.  We might even get whitecurrants this year--there are several bunches on the bush.

I gritted my teeth and thinned both my little apple trees, taking off maybe a quarter to a third of the immature fruits;  they overproduced in 2018, then didn't even flower in 2019.  I'd rather get 50 fruits every year than 100 fruits one year and none the next, so I thinned the apples down to one or two per bunch (there were more like three to five before).  I may not have thinned enough, but I'll leave it now.  This year the plum is taking a break from fruiting, though it didn't seem like it overproduced last year.  I'll have to consider thinning it in the future too.

The almond tree has a moderate amount of nuts growing, despite me not helping at all with pollination this spring.   It's getting to be a nice sized tree, though still small enough for our garden.  If only my little peach tree was as good a grower--it might actually be a goner, as it was very badly affected with leaf curl this year and has very few leaves left. 

The fig tree too, has been stressed this spring and a couple branches have died back, though it looks like it's got some new growth now.  There are still some nice little figs on it;  I dried a lot of last year's figs and they went into my Christmas puddings for this year.

Speaking of little trees, I think I have a tiny quince seedling growing in a container on the patio.  I sowed seeds from several quinces we bought over winter, and it looks like one has sprouted.  I think one sprouted last year too, but got too dry and died.  This one is in a much bigger container and will hopefully fare better. 

Starting to make the pond pretty

Working on the pond, May 2020

Here I am, keeping it real.  I've been talking about a pond refurb for a while now, and while we've been on lockdown, the husband started digging.  The old pump broke (probably too much duck sludge) so the son and I emptied what we could by hand with buckets;  we watered the fruit trees with the disgusting water--it really perked them up after a hot, dry May.

The next day the husband and son took up the paving brick patio and other stones around the pond perimeter, and the pond plants and the old filters, and began to enlarge the hole.  Once it was the right shape and size, they took up the old liner and carefully allowed it to dry and stored it away for a future small fish pond nearer the house (no ducks allowed).

The remaining duck sludge was tipped onto the hole and spread around, and the duck watering tubs were moved down into it.  The next day, as the sludge was a bit drier, the son and I stomped it down and put the paving bricks around the new perimeter.  We also started tipping water into the hole to keep it wet and keep the ducks interested.

The idea is that the ducks will continue to poo and trample the bottom of this bigger pond and gradually seal it.  It does hold a puddle at the bottom now, but it may take all summer or longer.  The husband is a bit skeptical it will work, but I've promised that if it doesn't, we'll do it his way and get a bigger liner.  Either way, I'm also going to put an exit pipe low down in order to drain and refill when needed.  We'll see how it goes.

Early cherries

Netted and waiting, May 2020

It was a hot, dry May and the son picked our first cherry last weekend (the last weekend in May).  Talk about early!  This tree, the Morello, would up until recently fruit in July.  For a few years we've had fruit in June--and while the bulk of it is only starting to ripen, I'm sure it will do so again this year too.  Except for the first cherry;  the son said it was pretty sour, but as a pie cherry that's only to be expected.

The other two trees are not so far along, though the newest little Stella has a few just turning orange now;  it only has about five or so cherries.  It was planted a year ago. 

The Kordia tree initially had a lot of fruit but dropped about half:  I think it's been stressed by the heat and lack of rain.  We're trying to water once or twice a week to save the remainder of the cherries;  they're not due for a few more weeks at least--maybe not till July.  It's too big to net against birds, but I may put some fabric sleeves over the lower branches to try and save a few cherries for us;  we've never gotten more than a few dozen since we planted the tree five or so years ago. 

The Morello tree is netted using a couple of long willow wands as arching supports;  the son helped me go all the way around and down with the net so hopefully it's impervious this year--I want to save as many cherries as possible.  Note the huge chard plant going to seed inside the net:  the husband asked if that was really what I was trying to net and if the cherry tree was just in the way.

Too dry...

Like last spring (and the summer before), we have gone several weeks without any rain.  In fact, I think we've had one rain since the start of lockdown, 10 weeks ago;  it wasn't even enough to refill our rain barrels either--they're empty.

However, my other strategies for conserving water are in full swing:  the washing machine exit pipe has been directed to the bed nearest the house;  there is very little bare soil in any of the beds, and I continue to add organic material to the soil such as the contents of the chicken house.  Only the soil around the edges of my patio (nearest the house) is dry enough to require watering.  So far.

However, some of the fruit trees are showing signs of stress:  the Kordia cherry has dropped some immature fruit and the fig has lost some smaller branches.  I've been trying to give all my trees a big drink about once a week, so as not to lose any more fruit.

Today the son and I mostly emptied the pond with buckets and went around watering trees and vegetables with it:  the blackest, smelliest, grossest water ever (ducks are disgusting, honestly).  I'm still planning on revamping the pond both for looks and for ease of draining/filling (with an option to refill with rain water), which will incidently add another water source for my plants.

I really hope it rains soon!

Washing in a bucket, Apr 2020

At the allotment, May 2020

I still don't have a photo of the allotment?!  Well, it's a lot less weedy than it was last year (also no photo), but it's still pretty darn weedy.  However, we are no longer the weediest allotment at the site!  For now, anyway. 

The first batch of peas put down in February completely failed.  The second batch from April is up, but pretty short still.  I only just put some peasticks and canes up, but they still don't need them yet.  Hopefully they'll get a few good rain showers and start growing.

The potatoes started to come up and then we had a late frost.  I can't remember getting a frost in mid-May before, and certainly it didn't frost the volunteer potatoes in my own garden, but it nipped off the tops of the ones at the allotment.  Luckily (I guess?) the tips were only just emerging, so hopefully the tubers have enough vigor to put out more shoots.

The garlic is growing strongly but is drowning in grass: so much grass...  I will harvest mid-June or early July, and that patch will probably get sheet mulched straight away to smother all that grass.  It's right next to where the very grassy future chicken yard will be (very near future, I hope).

Speaking of sheet mulch, the cabbages planted into the beds previously mulched have been severely slug damaged--I've already replanted once and I don't think it's worth doing again (though I do have some spare plants);  I'm putting in the rest of the brassicas at home this summer, though I may move some spring cabbage and broccoli to the allotment later in the season if I have some good sized ones. 

The husband just planted out a double row of runner beans and a double row of green beans, all started in paper tubes.  Hopefully they survive the slugs long enough to establish.

The strawberries are flowering, and hopefully forming fruits, but I'm a bit worried about the slug situation in their bed too.  We put down sheet mulch around the plants last month to smother grass, so maybe the slugs have taken up residence.  However, we have some raspberries forming, and about twenty or so new canes planted to hopefully fruit next year.

And finally, a harvest:  we have been picking purple sprouting broccoli about once a week for the past month, and it's still going, but the sprouts are very tiny now.  I think there are three or four plants, which is just enough for one or two meals.

State of the flock, May 2020

In the yard, Apr 202

Right now we have 11 chickens confined to their yard (though allowed a few hours of free range per day) and four ducks (two male, two female) full time free ranging--sans vegetable patch of course.  We've had a few deaths over the past couple of months, mostly of old hens but also one young hen had an accidental death.  Egg production ranges from about five to eleven eggs per day, with the ducks being the most reliable:  we're getting two duck eggs almost every day.


I notice that our vegetable patch, which the ducks had access to for a few weeks over winter and spring, has a lot less slug pressure than usual.  Coincidence?  I'll probably let them back on it over summer once in a while too--under supervision--after the vegetables are grown.

The husband has put up posts at the allotment, ordered a long length of wire and made a chicken-proof gate;  we already have a little coop up there--it sleeps around four.  He plans on finishing the whole set up soon (I hope!) and we will move some of the hens up there.  There's a big grassy patch for them to clear up for us.

The Vegetable Challenge 2020: canceled

Water butts at the garage, Apr 2020

It hurts, but I'm not doing the Vegetable Challenge this year.  Every year I've challenged myself to stop buying vegetables for a set period of time, and have added a month to the challenge each year.  In 2019 the Challenge was for seven months, which technically I did not complete.  Though the circumstances are different, in 2020 I have decided not to attempt the challenge at all but to continue to build our food storage with store bought vegetables. 

That said, I am still attempting to produce as much food as I possibly can: vegetables, fruits, eggs.  I hope to have surplus for our food storage.  And maybe enough extra for gifts and barter with friends and neighbors--I can dream, right?  I will still be cataloging our garden and allotment food, and am hoping to beat 2019's food totals.

Time for gardening (but not much writing)

Seedlings everywhere! Apr 2020

It's been a busy gardening month, with the husband and son pitching in quite a lot of the labor.  The daughter and I have been taking it a bit slower, and we're all getting used to life with four in the house.  I'm not up to full strength after birth six weeks ago, as I'm still anemic following a hemorrhage.  I'm getting stronger, but the husband and son still have to do the heavy lifting.  Even the daughter is a bit of a heavy lift for me (though they think she's pretty heavy themselves).

Even more! Apr 2020

 And of course, present circumstances mean the son is home all day with me and the daughter;  the husband is a key worker, though he was able to take about a month off work after birth, and I certainly put him to good use, particularly at the allotment.  Potatoes and peas have been planted, and peas are now coming up everywhere.  The various seeds sown there seem not to have appeared (or more likely have been munched by slugs), and the cabbages I transplanted have had some damage too.  Win some, lose some, I guess. I was mentioning this to a friend actually:  I've been gardening for about 15 years now and I still lose more than I win.  Oh well.

Laxton Fortune apple tree, Apr 2020

I can't guarantee a regular blog schedule at the moment, as the daughter takes up a lot of my time--I can't seem to type very well while she's awake, and while she's asleep there always seems something more pressing to do:  eating, bathing, taking a nap...

Taking a break

I'll be away from the blog for a couple weeks;  child Three is here: we have a girl! 

Where's the food?

Food totals for the year so far have been pretty slim.  Not because there is no garden food (though admittedly there's not a lot), but for a few other reasons as well:

It's too small an amount to weigh!  I have been picking very small amounts of new miners lettuce and sorrel growth, and a few bits of chickweed and daylily sprouts here and there, plus some chives and thyme.  All of these have been very much appreciated in fresh salads and/or cooked meals, but none have been up to 1/2 oz, which is the smallest weight on my scale.

We're still eating preserved food!  Yes, I'm going through all the dried greens and roots I put away last year, and we only just finished off the last of the frozen berries.  I even found some dried herbs yesterday, which I didn't realize I still had.  We'll be eating them, some fermented runner beans and salsa, and the last stored green kuri squash too.

No one's picking it!  The husband and son don't really harvest, and I haven't been because of massive pregnant belly and huge swollen ankles.  There's celery out there, a bit of chard and some kale--as well as the above mentioned greens--but there it sits, as no one goes out to bring it in.  And finally:

Someone forgot to weigh it!  For instance, we ate the huge pumpkin and a medium squash early this year and someone who will remain nameless *cough*notme*cough* forgot to weigh them.  There've been several lapses in recording weights, that's all I can say.

Food Totals February 2020

Vegetables:

4 oz Brussels sprouts
9 oz red cabbage

Total: 13 oz

Note:  I weigh 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:

No fruit harvested this month

Eggs:

Total: 344 eggs from 14 hens and 2 ducks
Total feed bought: 1 bag layers pellets (20 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)

Preserves:

No preserves made this month

Homebrew:

1 L cider vinegar begun fermenting (from the last of the wild harvested apples)
1 L cider vinegar still fermenting

Almost spring: jobs

Well, my almond tree is just starting to flower, as are the daffodils here and there around the garden.  The little clump of snowdrops are nearly finished.  And I've utilized my clothes line a few times this month.  Is it spring yet?

As far as spring jobs go, my first (and most important!) is getting those peas in the ground.  Actually the husband and son have done it at the allotment while I've been at home with my feet up.  The husband put them on to sprout first--about 600 altogether--and has been putting in row after row.  He also put the broad beans and yellow mange tout peas on to sprout, but they haven't quite yet--maybe by the weekend they'll be ready to go in too.

It's still just a little early for me to start seed trays, but I'm doing a few this week:  onions and leeks (hopefully I have some seed left), and maybe a few other things.  The husband has promised to make up a new hot bed at the allotment, so I'll definitely get some seeds going there:  beetroot and lettuce maybe.  Or maybe something else entirely.

I got all my fruit trees/vine/bushes/etc pruned at last and have tied down branches on the apple trees to keep them semi-espalier.  The husband took six divisions from the artichokes to the allotment and says they have new growth;  I think he could take a few more.  And ducks and escaped chickens have done in what leafy greens were in the veg patch and planters, but it looks like new growth is coming.  They haven't discovered the daylily sprouts in the perennials section, which I have been snacking on myself--kind of like a mild oniony lettuce:  yum.

State of the flock, February 2020

After about two months of egglessness, we're back in business.  The son is collecting around 9 eggs a day--give or take a few--from 14 hens and 2 ducks.  Our four newest hatched hens (July 2019) started up last month, as have most of the older ones.

Well, with egg laying comes escaping--these young hens decided they needed to lay in secret places all over the garden instead of the nest box like sensible birds.  We therefore redesigned their enclosure, now slightly smaller, but mostly jump/climb/dig under proof.  Mostly.  I've had to adjust a few places (and chase one or two), but on the whole it seems to be holding. 

Our four ducks (two male and two female) have mainly been enclosed with their beaky counterparts in said yard, but were recently allowed another two weeks on the vegetable patch to tidy up and do a little slug-hunting.  They're back in with the hens and not happy about it, but as they also had access to the patio next to the house (and the gate to the driveway and greater world which was not always firmly shut), I'm glad they're pooing somewhere else now.  The yard being slightly smaller means that their fortnightly straw bale keeps it a lot drier than before.

We had two deaths over winter, both rescue hens:  one we adopted only a year ago--she would have only been 2 years old--and our venerable old lady Rainbow who did a great job of hatching and raising 2019's chicks.  Rainbow was 5 years old which is a fine old age for a chicken bred for a factory farm.  To be honest, I'm expecting our other two oldest, ages 5 and 6, to go any time now--they've both lost weight and have become very slow. 

---

We're putting up fencing at the allotment--well, trying to anyway--to get some of the hens up there:  we're allowed 12 (though most of our hens look pretty much identical so we might be able to sneak all 14).  The husband has put in some posts and we need to order some heavy gauge wire now.  Slight problem:  we had to shell out for a new boiler earlier this month which kind of wiped out our savings, so allotment fencing isn't quite as high on the priority list as before.  Still, we'll get it done eventually--hopefully within the month, and the chickens can get to work up there again.

Goals for 2020

Well, after a sorry performance in 2019, and some extenuating circumstances extending to 2020, I'm going easy on myself this year.  I'll keep the unachieved goals on the list:

One Year Goals (by 31 December, 2020)

• Extend vegetable self sufficiency by one month to seven months total
• Set up a chicken coop at the allotment

Five Year Goals (by 31 December, 2025)

• Greenhouse erected
• Fully self sufficent in vegetables and seasonal fruit

Other than that, I'll try to get a few other projects done in 2020, but won't put them on the official list:

• Revamp the pond to be prettier and easier to drain/refill (now that our ducks have made it disgusting)
• Set up a rotating firewood store and split all remaining sycamore branches
• Preserve some garden food every month during the Vegetable Challenge

See 2019's goals here.

Food Totals January 2020

Vegetables:

5 oz Brussels sprouts

Total: 5 oz

Note:  I weigh 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:

No fruit harvested this month

Eggs:

Total: 127 eggs from 14 hens and 2 ducks (juvenile hens began laying this month)
Total feed bought: 1 bag layers pellets (20 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)

Preserves:

No preserves made this month

Homebrew:

4 L cider vinegar bottled up
1 L cider vinegar begun fermenting (from wild harvested apples)

Goals revisited, 2019

1 Year Goals (by 1 Jan 2020)

• Extend vegetable self sufficiency by 1 month (7 months total)
• Set up a chicken coop at the allotment
• Make/obtain a cold frame for the allotment
• Raise at least one batch of chicks

5 Year Goals (by 1 Jan 2025)

• Fully self sufficient in vegetables and seasonal fruit
• Raising/breeding meat and replacement layers
• Greenhouse erected

Read 2018's goals here.
Read 2017's goals here.
Read 2016's goals here. 

Looking at my 1 year goals, I thought it would be pretty easy but turns out I was wrong.  Technically we did set up a chicken coop at the allotment, and we kept chickens in it, but it was only a temporary set up, and when the roof blew off in high winds, that was the end of that.

The extension of veg self sufficiency by one month was also not achieved, for reasons explained at the time.

But on to the (small) successes:  I definitely set up a cold frame at the allotment and grew beetroot and lettuce in it, and we raised a batch of nine chicks--or our two broody hens did.  This also provided us with four new layers and five spare cockerels for meat, per the 5 year goal.  I've managed this chicken goal for a few years now so I may take it off 5 year list.

No greenhouse yet, though we were pretty well sufficient in seasonal fruit.  In fact, we haven't been buying much fruit at all for about five months, but eating our stored/preserved fruits--though we did buy oranges for Christmas;  maybe when I get that greenhouse I'll get an orange tree.

I did some gardening

Whoa, as big and exhausted as I am (pregnancy was a lot easier the first time, 10 years ago), I managed to get a few jobs done so far this month.  I also supervised the performance of a few others.  Here's what I did/oversaw:

• Harvested runner bean seed (finally)
• Tidied away all bean and pea supports in the garden
• Dug out a few legacy shrubs (planted by a previous owner and still on the margins of the veg patch)--supervised
• Potted up 4 rooted blackcurrant cuttings for gifts (fingers crossed these are still alive)--supervised
• Pruned fruit bushes and took 18 new redcurrant cuttings and lightly pruned the Kumoi pear
• Pruned one (of two) grape vines
• Spread contents of chicken house on one garden bed--supervised
• Cut back some overspreading bramble vines (unwanted) in the perennials section and did a general tidy up there
• Cut back all 2019's willow wands and tied them up to dry for basketry 

There are a few more jobs to do, such as pruning the two apples trees, fig tree and second grape vine.  It's almost time to start sprouting peas and broad beans, and for starting some onion seed indoors.  Better get on it.

Grand total for garden food, 2019

Here goes:

Vegetables:  177 lb, 4.5 oz

Eggs:  1400

Fruit: 7 lb, 10 oz (incomplete;  most fruit was counted by number, e.g. 156 plums)

We beat totals from 2018 on all scores, but not 2017;  and this with allotment totals added in for 2019--ah well.  There were a few things unweighed as of 31 Dec, including a medium sized squash and a large pumpkin, but heavy as they both were I doubt they could have brought the veg total up by another 25 lb.  At least the fruit total has been increasing every year;  2019 was the best year yet for garden fruit.

However, considering that I haven't been working under full steam since about July, I feel very pleased about the final results.  I anticipate 2020 to be similar, considering our upcoming family situation, but if I can at least match 2019, I'll be thrilled.

See previous grand totals:  2018, 2017, 2016