Keep it coming, September 2024

It feels like summer barely began and now it's finishing.  It certainly began late this year (I was planting out some of my summer veg in mid to late June even) and while we've had some warm days, and a few hot ones, there have been a fair few cool ones too.

I cleared away my main kitchen garden bed, home to kohlrabi (mostly they went into kimchi).  After hoeing and raking, I replanted with fennel, winter lettuces, pak choi and a few komatsuna (another Asian brassica).  The son helped me cover it loosely with another piece of netting, more for pigeon deterence than butterfly--I think cabbage butterfly season is over.  

He and the daughter also helped me move our motley collection of fencing materials and wrap them around the perimeter of the veg beds, excluding them and the patio from our two free ranging ducks (chickens are still at the allotment for the present).  Actually I locked the ducks back up too, to let the rain wash away some of their poo off the lawn for a few days.  When they're allowed back out they'll get the whole of the lawn and back garden but not the veg beds or, critically, the patio--they love hanging out on the patio and it gets poo-y quickly.

So even though we are now officially into autumn--equinox was on Sunday--I'm still hard at it.  Not only am I still planting out (got more winter lettuce, komatsuna and cauliflower seedlings), I'm still harvesting a lot of beans (both green and purple podded), cherry and plum tomatoes, and a steady stream of salad cucumbers, beets and lettuce.  I'm not ready to finish yet:  keep it coming!

Caterpillar carnage

Cabbages still got leaves, September 2024

When I pulled up all the caterpillar-y kohlrabi, I trimmed and left the leaves laying on the empty bed;  it was near enough the mini daikon radishes that several caterpillars were able to crawl underneath the netting and discover it.  At least they didn't discover the pak choi and cabbages further on.  I don't know if the radishes will still have time to grow more leaves in order to make roots--though luckily I have another bed at the allotment (not pictured) which is completely covered and untouched;  this one I buried all the edges of the mesh, not just weighed it down with bricks.

Poor broccoli, September 2024

The purple sprouting broccoli right next to the cabbages (cabbages in the first picture, broccoli above) were unnetted and have suffered the consequences.  Though I made my best effort to de-caterpillar, it was not enough.  I am hopeful it will leaf out again;  harvest won't be until next spring and I've had this happen in the past and still got a good harvest.  And again, my allotment broccoli (not pictured) is in much better shape than my garden, despite it also being unnetted.  Why?  Not quite sure, but maybe fewer butterflies?  I did pick caterpillars off the allotment ones too, but all the plants there still have leaves, unlike at home.

The caterpillars are pretty much past now;  only a few stragglers remain.  The rest are no doubt happily tucked up in their cocoons, dreaming of next summer.

Fruit and sunflowers

 

One precious plum, September 2024

We have had very few plums on our Czar tree this year, and most of them are out of reach.  Maybe 20 or 30 on the tree at the very most.  The daughter has had what few we could pick.

The Kumoi pear also had a grand total of one fruit, which we picked two weeks ago.  It was crisp, juicy and sweet;  a truly delightful pear, somewhat like a European pear but also not.  If a European pear is crisp, it's usually not juicy or sweet--the texture is what I love about Kumoi.

Sparta apples in their glory, September 2024

Last week I picked the Sparta tree clean, harvest shown in its entirety above.  Not a lot, but at least all are excellent size (unlike my Laxton Fortune).  It's meant to be a red apple, but most of these matured in part-shade so only a couple are fully red;  though as you can see it's really dark, almost purple.  Like the Kumoi pear, Sparta is crisp, juicy and sweet.  A very good eating apple.

And to complete the set, in my weighing bowl in the above photo is also a glimpse of a Brown Turkey fig.  So far I think I've picked three off my tree.  Now mid-September, while still a lot of green fruits of various sizes, that may be it. 

Self seeded sunflower at the back of zucchini and netted pak choi and radishes, September 2024

And look at my huge sunflower!  I usually get a handful of these sprouting up every year in this spot, where they drop the seed the previous autumn.  I had two others, both no more than waist height, both now finished.  This one is probably twice my height or more and showing no signs of stopping.  I'm hoping for lots of seeds for next year's show.

Zucs and cucs, August 2024

Di Nizzo zucchini in the garden, August 2024

Last year I was overloaded with both zucchini and cucumbers, with around 50 and 40 pounds respectively--what a great year.  This year, it's shaping up to be a much more modest harvest.  Though I got a lucky few free ones (of each) from other allotmenters to supplement my own too:  I never say no to free food, especially vegetables.

I grew so much zuc last year that I still have some dehydrated in my cupboard so this year we are mostly eating it fresh, but I have also made a jar of kimchi with it.  I mean, why not--I'm on a roll with kimchi.  It's crunchy and spicy and may not last very long, the way I'm eating it!  I also made a couple of batches of tortillas with cooked mashed zuc:  just keep adding flour to the mash till it makes a rollable dough (mine was still a bit sticky) and cook in a hot pan about a minute each side.  They were a hit with the kids, even the son who dislikes zucchini.  The cooked mash was a bit watery so I left it to drain in a sieve for a few hours first.

With my little pickling cucumbers, I've filled a 1.8L jar of refrigerator pickles, and am 3/4 of the way through another.  Some of the smaller salad cucumbers have found their way in the jars too.  I saved seed from the pickling cucs last year, and have another couple left overripe for seed this year too (I've already bought salad cucumber seed for next year but who knows, maybe I've missed an overripe one of these too).  Apparently these can be made into kimchi too...

Marketmore cucumber in the garden, August 2024