Flipping the switch for summer; planting everything out, losing cucumbers again

After a somewhat cool spring, we've suddenly flipped the switch for summer.  Last Monday I got completely drenched (and even hailed on) on my bike ride home from work and this Monday I was slathered in sunscreen at the beach.  Throughout spring we've had some dry spells and some rainy spells;  while I welcome some heat, I hope we still get some rain this summer and not a hosepipe ban.

I've got my zucs planted out at the allotment, as well as all my tomatoes (both cherry and plum, in containers).  The tomatoes have a good straw mulch to keep moisture in; whereas the zucs are planted in a new sheet mulch, and they won't have direct root contact with the soil yet--I'm watering both of them twice a day in this heat.  The rest of the plants, whether on top of sheet mulch or not, have been growing long enough not to need such copious watering (potatoes, peas, beets, broad beans, cabbages, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, garlic).  Except the overwintered onions, also in containers.  Containers need lots of water, no matter the weather.  

I've had somewhat sparse germination of squashes and cucs, and not only that, a lot of cuc losses.  They have been sprouting, wilting, and then shriveling up.  I might not get any cucumbers this year, but I will try one more batch of seed, despite it being a bit late.  This has happened to me in the past, though usually with older plants just starting to produce fruit.  I'm not sure if it's the potting compost (though everything else has been fine in it), the seed (saved my own from last year's fruits), or a cucumber specific disease.   It looks like the squashes are ok, just not a lot of them.  I'll try starting one more batch of these too.

I've grown some flowers from seed both this and last year:  columbine, lupin, verbena, wallflowers, strawflowers, marigolds.  I have some that self seed every year in my garden too:  poppies, honesty, borage, foxgloves, calendula.  There are a lot of ornamentals in my garden:  many shrubs, some bulbs, as well as some herbaceous perennials.  Spring is particularly pretty out back, but it's also lovely now in early summer.  I used to pick myself homegrown bouquets every week;  I got out of the habit around the time I got my allotment, but I really should pick some again even if only once in a while.

Finally, last week I collected my largest plastic plant pots to transplant my chilis and eggplants.  While I've sometimes succeeded with chilis (though not reliably), I've never got beyond two leaves on eggplants.  Until this year:  most of my little plants have at least four leaves!  Will they carry on?  I half filled the pots with partly composted chicken manure that I dug from the chicken yard, then topped up with commercial potting compost to plant into.  Now 10 eggplant pots are on my patio, in the sunniest most sheltered spot, and all possibly looking to grow a fifth leaf;  they are grouped with 12 pots of chilis, with similar leaf count.

Planning for the hungry gap

So.  Hungry gap and self reliance.  How is it going now, ten years into my blog, and eight years into my allotment?

Recall the hungry gap is when the winter stores have run out but the new season harvests haven't begun.  I first wrote about it in 2018 and have touched on it a few times since.  Is the hungry gap a thing any more?  It was for generations past, certainly.  For us?  Well, I have more storage options than just a root cellar and some pickle crocks;  here's what I still have in my stores, of which most but not all is from 2025-2026:  

• One large squash
• Several large bags of frozen tomatoes, leeks, squash puree, broccoli greens, and a few small bags of various berries
• Many jars of dehydrated cabbage, parsnip, swede, zuc, carrot, tomatoes, and quite a few small jars of dried figs
• Several jars of beets pickled in vinegar
• Several litres of kimchi and sauerkraut (mainly shredded kohlrabi/turnip/beet combination)  
• A few jars each of apples and plums
• A couple gallons of fruit wine 
• A basket of unshelled almonds 

Now eating fresh:

• Purple sprouting broccoli and greens (close to finishing)
• Lettuce
• Herbs:  rosemary, sage, parsley, mint, chives
• Chard 

Taken together we still have a good variety of veg to eat until summer production begins, but if we were relying on fresh only, our meals would be very limited.  Having grown so much last year meant I could put away a significant portion into my storage, intended for just this time:  the hungry gap. 

Busy: planting, weeding, tidying, top dressing, harvesting

Two thirds of my allotment with purple sprouting broccoli at the centre foreground;  the other third contains the chicken yard, raspberries and artichokes (not shown), April 2026

Photos!  But don't expect this trend to continue.  

A lot going on right now, both in my personal life and in my garden and allotment.  So busy.  I make my food producing engine a top priority though.  Not only is it important to me to have as much homegrown food as possible, I also enjoy the whole process.  It's my beloved hobby.  This time of year I'm in the garden as much as possible, and at the allotment every day.  I'm still planting out my transplants, bed by bed.

Tiny quince tree in the garden, May 2026

I spent the last two weekends with a pair of leather gloves, pulling out all the nettles from the edges of my garden;  I also did as much of the encroaching brambles as I could (these are harder to pull out but cutting them only encourages growth).  The whole garden looks much tidier now.  Most of it is given to perennials and ornamentals, with good habitat for birds and other creatures;  a certain amount of disorder is therefore encouraged, but I want to be able to enjoy the full extent of it too, without getting stung or prickled.

Another job:  digging chicken manure out of the now vacant yard--chickens currently having their summer vacation at the allotment--and spreading it all around.  It's gone at the base of every fruit tree and rose bush, around some of the garden beds, and anywhere else that looks needy.  There's a whole year's worth of manure there:  plenty to share.  The son and I emptied the coop too, then dusted it thoroughly with diatomaceous earth, to protect against mites.  After mowing the lawn, he put the grass clippings in the coop and nest boxes to dry out into straw;  it will be dry and ready for chickens to move back in after their summer break.

It's never flowered before;  will we get our first quince? May 2026

The purple sprouting broccoli at the allotment is just about finished and I'm pulling up the plants one by one, stripping the leaves to eat like kale;  I've frozen a lot too.  I've also begun regularly picking the first new season lettuce (this is in the kitchen garden), as well as new chives, parsley and garlic.  Though the maincrop garlic isn't ready yet, I've found some volunteers that got missed last year and am cooking them whole: very pungent.  I'm still hopeful for some spring cabbages soon, growing bigger;  and one spring cauliflower--the rest already matured, back in autumn and winter.  Oh, and there is still one squash left from last autumn, alone on its mat in my living room:  time to cut it open.

Summer plants, tomatoes, rain, chickens

I managed it;  all my summer seeds have been started now.  Most of them are up and growing, except the very latest:  French beans, cucumber and squash.  Some of them are not as far along as I'd hoped (broad beans and peas) and some are racing away (lettuce and zuc).  But I'm not done with seeds yet, not for a while.  I'll be moving on to my autumn and winter seeds straight away, as soon as I can free up trays.  

In fact, I freed up one tray at the weekend, planting out my tomatoes at the allotment.  The son and I went up and filled the last remaining container (a big one like a raised bed) with well composted manure;  the pile of it next to the stables is sadly diminished now.  I still need some for when I plant my zucs, cucs and squashes in a few weeks' time, but luckily for me, no one else seems to be digging it out any more.  There is also huge pile of fresh manure, which probably has some composted stuff at the very bottom, should I desperately need some.

We then planted out most of the tomatoes:  the cherry tomatoes in the tall, deep containers and the plum toms in individual plastic planters.  We'd filled those ones a few weeks ago and they were very dry, so we kept running a dripping hose on them as we planted.  Then it rained overnight and the plants really perked up by the time I visited the next morning.

We'd had a prolonged dry spell since around Easter.  Maybe that's it for dry weather this year!  (I said that last year and was so wrong.)  My water barrels have filled up again and it's forecast rain and cool temps for at least a week, after about a month of short sleeves weather.  I like to plant for both possibilities:  a hot summer or a cool one.  While not everything will succeed, it also means not everything will fail.  

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I moved my ten chickens up to their coop and yard at the allotment so they can clear out the grass.  Will they stay there all summer?  Will it just be a short vacation?  I haven't decided.  It means a bit more work for me, as I have to visit both morning and evening;  the husband broke his leg in March and can only just hobble around now, and the son is preparing for his GCSEs, very important exams at school.  And the daughter is only six.  It has to be me, and when I get sick of going twice a day every day they'll be coming back home.