Another glut of vegetables

I thought I was back to a slow and steady harvest of vegetables at the allotment, but it turns out I was wrong.  Last week I noticed some of my fennel bulbs were starting to bolt, so I pulled most of the bed--around 35 bulbs.  I started a 1.8 L jar to ferment with some garlic and fresh dill heads, but as I've never tried it before I didn't want to go overboard in case it turns out bad (I've done some experimental ferments which have been awful!);  I crammed the rest into the fridge to cook from fresh.  Fennel is nice roasted or added to stews;  the leafy tops also make a tasty tea which I sometimes drink in the evenings (no caffeine).

Another emergency harvest:  my second sowing of kohlrabi.  The spring sowing of kohlrabi made way for the fennel transplants, back in early August;  some of this first harvest went into kimchi and we gradually ate the rest, mainly grated into slaws and salads (just finished the last bulb out of the fridge at the weekend).  There were far fewer plants from the second sowing and I wasn't too confident about them, considering how spindly they were when transplanted out.  Suprisingly, they'd filled out nicely;  rather than let the slugs eat them hollow (they'd made a start), I pulled the remaining ten.  

And speaking of slugs, after a very dry and slug-lite summer, they were happily munching on some of my autumn cauliflowers last week:  about half of these have come home with me, after luckily noticing the damage in time.  I froze the heads, and the nicest outer leaves were dehydrated for winter stews.  I will keep a very close watch on the rest of the heads and pick at the first sign of danger.

At the same time, I checked on my turnip and winter radish bed under its net and found three big purple topped turnips;  these came home for the same reason as the kohlrabi:  I want to eat them before the slugs do (the radishes however don't look promising).  These turnips and most of the kohlrabi got sliced into matchsticks on my mandoline to make sauerkraut;  I added some freshly cooked beetroot too, filling a 3.3 L jar with the whole concoction.  And we ate the turnip and beetroot greens for good measure:  delicious. 

I was positive I'd picked the last of the squashes, but found two more this last week:  one green, one orange.  I can understand missing a green one:  it's the same color as the leaves, but the orange?  That makes 17 squashes altogether, though most of them are medium/small sized;  there are three big orange ones, though none as big as last year's monster.  All mature squashes are on mats either on the floor or windowsill in my living room, for winter eating;  so far we have eaten two that were too immature for long term storage.

Writing a plan and following it

I wrote a growing plan in 2024, to optimize my vegetable harvest;  it was a fairly simple one, with a list of what I wanted my main crops to be (and for the production crops, how many of them), with the following columns:  

Allotment Production crops Broad beans: 150 Snap peas: 350 Squash: 40 Tomatoes: 20 Beets: 150 Corn: 50 Climbing beans: 100	Garden Priority crops Kohlrabi Cabbage Salad cucumber Purple sprouting broccoli Strawberries Cauliflower Parsnips Lettuce Zucchini
Successional/Late Season Pak choi Fennel Chicory Kale Radish Turnip Lettuce	Pots and Planters Chilis Cherry tomatoes Pickling cucumbers Aubergine

I followed this plan pretty closely:  while my numbers weren't exactly on--I think only 20 squash plants survived that year for instance--it really bumped up my overall harvest, making 2024 a record year for me.  I referred to this plan while buying seeds and ticked items off the list as I planted them out.  A few things got crossed off the list for failing to grow;  these were replaced with something from the Successional/Late Season column.

In 2025, I expanded on this plan, doubling the number of both the Allotment Production and Successional/Late Season crops.  Some of these had simply been in different columns in the 2024 plan but many were newly added, such as Brussels sprouts, potatoes, onions, carrots and Chinese cabbage.

Writing a plan (in my own personal notes until now) kept me on track and I believe has made a big difference in my total output.  The newest plan (not shown) was so ambitious this year that I don't plan on expanding it at all for 2026:  it was a lot of work--maybe too much.  However, I while I won't add to it, I also probably won't subtract anything either:  I'll try to follow the same plan as it stands, with minor adjustments, focused mainly on the placement of plants (i.e. from one column to another).  If I add a vegetable, it will replace a different one--for example I won't be growing runner beans in 2026, but climbing beans instead.

I'm still harvesting and documenting for this year so I don't have any conclusive data on whether I'm on track to beat 2024's totals--but I suspect so!  I won't find out if all that work I did paid off, until I add them all up in January.

Ticking on with the Vegetable Challenge

I finally did it!  I planted out the (somewhat sad looking) spring cabbages in amongst my lettuce bed in my kitchen garden;  and I planted out the last over winter onion seedlings, in containers at the allotment.  All seedlings done for 2025.  What a crazy year for sowing, planting and harvesting:  maybe I overdid it?

The Vegetable Challenge is around half way through (though I'm hoping to extend beyond my official end date of 21 Jan, 2026) and my freezers are full of veg, as are my fridge and cupboards, as are my growing beds at home and at the allotment.  I think I hit peak harvest around July but to be honest, that's only because I wanted to clear beds in order to replant for a second planting.  Now I don't have that pressure, I can mainly harvest when needed.  If a frost threatens, I'll pick the rest of the green tomatoes--nothing else is in danger really--but otherwise no rush.

Right now:  Lyon leeks, tiny hot chilis, fennel bulbs, achocha, kohlrabi, runner beans, lettuce, chard, beets, cauliflowers (a bit small), plum and cherry tomatoes.  Also picking Sparta apples and Kumoi pears, nearing the end.  Soon:  pak choi, Chinese cabbage, Welsh onions, carrots, parsnips, Musselbrugh leeks.  Hopeful but not very close yet:  cooking radishes, turnips, Brussels sprouts, Savoy cabbages.

State of the flock, October 2025

I think we only mowed the lawn twice this summer:  it was too dry to grow most of the time, and we had to keep our flock off of it.  Now it's grown again and we're leaving it a little long--just a couple inches--for the ducks and chickens to free range.  They all like grass and it will probably last them until January if they're lucky.  The two ducks are still getting several days of free range a week, but the eleven chickens only get a couple hours a week (not fair!) because they need supervision.  The chickens are laying us maybe three eggs a day now:  unexpected and very welcome.  

I'm considering sending the chickens back up to their yard at the allotment for a month or so before winter, to scratch it up and eat the weeds;  however, it still has all the achocha, one more squash and a self sown tomato covered in fruit--they can't go just yet.  I don't want them there during winter, but if an early frost kills the plants in their yard--they could go then.  Their yard at home is pretty muddy/pooey though I did get some free wood chips to spread around, hopefully to dry it up a bit.  Some sort of mulch is needed, especially in the wet months of winter.

Our Pekin bantam:  Cookie, aged 9.5 years, Sep 2025

We haven't had any deaths all year, despite having a very aged flock;  the ducks are about six years old, and the chickens range from two years to nine.  Some of the chickens are molting and the ducks had their molt in late summer;  hopefully this means everyone is getting ready for the winter and will see next year healthfully and happily.