Half the apple harvest and bonus bamboo, 2024

Laxton Fortune apple tree, August 2024

It's a very short window for my Laxton Fortune apple tree, which I believe is considered a dual purpose fruit--both a cooker and an eater (aka culinary and dessert apple).  The son tried one about two weeks ago, still somewhat flavorless;  then last week we tried another with enough potential for me to pick a couple of baskets and make some apple preserves;  then a few days later we yet again tasted and I made the executive decision:  it's time! 

We were warned a branch might break (one small one did), August 2024

I picked half of them one day, then after a very windy morning, the son picked the rest.  If left on the tree, they will continue to ripen and become a little too sweet and somewhat mushy.  We got them at the perfect time:  not too sweet, nice and crisp with a tender skin. 

I didn't thin any apples this year, though there was some natural fruit drop in June;  to be honest, I was expecting the fruit to be smaller.  Some of it is a bit too small, but most of it is around "lunchbox size" or bigger.  I've made applesauce and one bottle of apple halves with the first round but the rest are still hanging out in my kitchen in cardboard boxes;  the daughter is faithfully plowing through several a day, and the son and I are doing our best too.  I don't actually know how long these apples will store;  since they are an early variety, I suspect not that long.  My other tree, Sparta, should be ready in September and those apples store at least a month (we generally eat them all by that time so I'm not sure how much longer they'd last either).

I haven't weighed or counted my apple harvest either!  I am good about vegetables, but my rule is to weigh them after preparation, i.e. trimming/peeling/etc.  This throws me off with fruit sometimes, so I don't often weigh it.  Maybe I need to set a different rule for fruit, to help me count it in my totals.

For beans at the allotment, August 2024

My bamboo in the perennials section (the duck yard) has really taken over its space so I got the son to cut it back by 75% this summer and many of the canes, while narrow, are still acceptable for garden stakes.  I've taken quite a few bundles up to the allotment for my beans and cucumbers, and have portioned them out a bit among the garden cucumbers too.  But I still have so many, some of them may end up as kindling.

Kohlrabi, 2024

 

That time of year again, August 2024

The parasitic wasps got these ones but a bit late, August 2024

Pak choi coming along nicely, Aug 2024

Lettuce fortress in the kohlrabi bed(protecting against pigeons and ducks), August 2024

 

Like a purple alien, August 2024

Well, the cabbage caterpillars are out in force, though I'm doing my best to keep them off the cabbages, pak choi and purple sprouting broccoli--the only other brassicas I have now are kohlrabi, and they are covered in caterpillars!  I've harvested about a quarter of them very recently (mainly for dongchimi and kkakdugi, another type of kimchi) and replanted the emptied space with lettuce seedlings.  At least the caterpillars don't eat the actual kohlrabi, just the leaves--up until a week or two ago, we had been enjoying those leaves as a kale substitute.

However, it's just about time to clear the rest of the kohlrabi anyway, as I'm going to replant that bed with more lettuce and pak choi, hopefully some fennel, and maybe cauliflower to overwinter.  I'll probably break out my other piece of insect mesh for this;  the first one is spread over the first pak choi, mini daikon radish and a few cabbage--and I have two smaller pieces covering radish and turnip beds at the allotment.  

I've already picked the biggest of the kohlrabi, and have begun on the medium-sized ones;  there are quite a few tall thin ones too, probably not worth bothering about.  Peeled and grated it also makes a very nice coleslaw (kohlslaw) and I use it cut into matchsticks in a stir fry too.  Last year I tried both freezing and dehydrating, but wasn't much pleased with either.  I think I'll carry on with the kimchi, a much better option.

Making water kimchi

So, remember when I posted that I wanted to grow my own kimchi?  At the time it felt like a distant possibility, but I actually made some last week!  I didn't make the usual cabbage kimchi as my cabbages are still growing, and I'm checking them religiously for caterpillars to keep them that way.  My pak choi is also not ready, but actually looks pretty good and might be within a few more weeks (this is fully enclosed in netting).  No, I made dongchimi with kohlrabi.

I'm a newbie to Korean cuisine but I enjoy watching cooking videos on youtube, and Korean cooking is one of my favorites;  it seems to be heavy on the vegetables--my kind of food.  And I'm particularly intrigued by the fermented foods, which are described as different kinds of kimchi.  Dongchimi, sometimes translated as water kimchi, I gather is made with daikon radish, but I figure kohlrabi is similar enough, so armed with that thought I made kohlrabi dongchimi.

I harvested 12 kohlrabi from my kitchen garden at home, and I might add I hardly made a dent in the bed (though I need to harvest more to make room for lettuces, fennel and the newest pak choi).  These 12 weighed in at 4.5 lb, a good haul I thought!  I peeled and sliced them thinly before packing them in a 3.3 L jar with onion, garlic, ginger, salt, fish sauce and chili flakes.  The jar is now bubbling away merrily on my counter (and the brine already tastes amazing).  I hope to start eating it in the next week or so.

Last year I was running out of jars because of cucumber pickles, maybe this year it'll be kimchi.

At the allotment, August 2024

At the allotment I'm still waiting for my climbing beans to flower, though luckily the sugar snap peas continue to produce in the meantime.  Also harvesting a couple of beets per week, the very first of the tomatoes (both cherry and plum types) and I've started my first pickle jar with four small cucumbers.  Last year I  discovered I actually prefer them cornichon size: one or two bites;  I'll be picking them much smaller this year.

I've picked all the artichokes now, bar a couple very small heads which I'll let go to flower.  The raspberries are also completely finished, and while I've been pretty diligent at recording all my veg harvest, I didn't keep a faithful record of these:  we ate a lot, froze some and gave a good amount away. 

My squash vines are taking over one climbing bean frame--I built it from odds and ends and it's very flimsy--making it hard to get to the beans;  the other frame is better accessible.  I have at least one big yellow squash growing and one big green.  While I don't think I need 21 big squashes like last year, I'm hoping for more than just the two.

My leeks are growing well in their bed but so is the grass, and there's no way I can pull it up without pulling up leeks too.  I've got several large purple sprouting broccoli plants that seem to have some new growth on them, after the shock of transplant;  these and the leeks are for harvest in late winter/early spring.

Somehow I got some achocha volunteers growing in a couple of my bigger containers;  I've not grown them on purpose for years as they keep self seeding, but this is the first time they've done so at the allotment.  I can only assume I put some seeds in my kitchen waste tub after harvesting at home (normally I give this waste to the chickens but for a short period last summer I was putting it in my allotment composters).  They are just starting to form little flowers.

It looks like my corn isn't going to produce this year;  it's still below my waist and even though we've had a few weeks of warm weather now, it's only inching along.  Oh well.  I may give it up and next summer grow something else instead.  However, my newest beet beds look great and I've got a newly sown bed of radishes both white and black, all fully enclosed in insect mesh to hopefully keep out the slugs, bugs and birds.  I've started one more new sheet mulched bed with plans for turnips and/or swedes in the next day or two.  Got to keep growing while I can.