Bringing home the squash, harvesting and clearing away for winter, the last apples

It was time to pick all the squashes at the allotment:  13 in total, though possibly I missed one or two;  I picked two from the chicken yard which in addition to the squash vines, is overflowing with nettles so I didn't investigate very closely.  That big green one is certainly a monster!  The yellowy/creamy one is the next biggest in size, but doesn't feel as heavy as the third biggest one (orange).  I offered to lend my biggest one to my coworker for her Guess the Weight contest but she was already given one by someone else.  My largest is larger than that one! but smaller than The Big One in my estimation.

Too much to carry!  The son wheeled this very heavy burden home (four blocks away), September 2026

It's a little earlier than I usually pick squashes, but the leaves had mostly died back and I was worried they'd go moldy on the vines if I left them.  It's happened to me before.  They easily snapped off the vines without cutting, so I know they were ripe enough.  There are still two self-sown squashes growing in the kitchen garden with green leaves and vines--I'll pick them later on.  In the meantime, the allotment ones are on a mat in my living room to cure;  they'll either remain there for winter storage, or possibly move to the windowsill for display purposes.  I expect to eat them over the next six months.

After pulling the squash vines, I then cleared away almost all the zucs aka courgettes and have been forking over that large bed for grass and bindweed roots.  It was newly sheet mulched in the spring and I plan on getting some new garlic into half of it and remulching the whole thing with more wood chips.  After I've at least done one full pass with the garden fork for unwanted roots, that is--it's pretty grassy.  Can you see my compost heap at the middle right of the photo below?  It's in front of that gray shed and behind a white box (it looks like a big pile of vines);  I should try turning it to get it to break down quicker.

Cleared away the courgettes and squash;  still working on the grass, September 2026

Still so many cucumbers!  I've missed a couple too, now going orange;  these will be saved for seed.  Actually this variety, Marketmore, is still good when a little overripe, though it needs peeling and deseeding by that point.  I'm still picking a few at home (the earlier sown vines), and a few pickling cucumbers too.

The last of the apples came off my two trees at home:  Laxton Fortune and Sparta.  Only a few Sparta apples this year, and unfortunately quite a lot of fruit dropped off both trees.  Still, we got several large baskets worth and what is left will keep for a few weeks more.  I've made a couple of apple crumbles, the son made himself a jug of juice, and we've all been trying to eat our apple a day.