Sad leeks, happy fennel, shed replacement

My leeks at the allotment don't look so great, so I've begun harvest en masse, to freeze.  I don't know if it's because it's been dry/warm for longer than they like, or if it's something else entirely.  It could be leek rust, though I'm not sure;  it might just be yellowing leaves.  Normally I have leeks standing all winter with no problems.  Maybe it's the bed itself, as I have a small row of leeks elsewhere that look in better shape (though still not perfect);  I grew broad beans in this bed earlier in the year, and now that I think of it, they were a little disappointing too:  while no obvious sign of pest or disease, not a huge yield off them.

In the bed next to them, which had Charlotte potatoes earlier this year, the fennel are fat and happy.  In fact, I hope they can stand a bit longer, as I'm not sure I can process several dozen all at once.  Last year I tried fermenting some with dill, which was unexciting;  then I added some kimchi paste to it and made it much better.  If they start going to seed, or the slugs move in, I'll have to make another big batch of kimchi (and I need to free up some jars first!). 

In the same large bed as the fennel, my winter radishes, pak choi and Chinese cabbage are looking great;  I've already picked some really big black radishes.  I keep meaning to pick a pak choi but there have been little Savoy cabbages elsewhere to get through first;  however I think I finally picked the last one (I think!).  I was going to make kimchi with those Asian greens too, but still have at least 5 L of kimchi left.  They can go to stir fries and the like instead.

The son and I, with the help/direction of an allotment neighbor, removed our old half-broken-down shed and replaced it with a new one.  Both were once large wooden shipping crates, and to be honest, not super sturdy (made of plywood).  However, we got the old one out and ready for the burn pile, and the new one in its place, secured to some heavy wooden railway sleepers as a foundation.  We covered it all over with a large tarp (also old and somewhat holey, though we doubled it up) to keep in dry before we can carry on finishing it.  It will need a larger piece of wood to make an overhanging roof, a door, and a good coat of waterproof paint.  See the photo in this post for what it looked like (the very small blue shed on the right).

While it's still been mostly dry, it's gotten chillier at last;  the warm weather lasted all of September and half way through October, which is very unusual for here.  I've known us to have a few warm days in October, but not such a prolonged warmth.  But I think that's our lot:  it's getting much darker and feeling like we might want to light our wood stove again soon.

Tidying up for winter, goodbye Cookie

Regarding my previous post, I had a tray of various brassicas from August;  these I just planted out despite mostly being rejected for the first transplant as way too small.  They're not much bigger now!  But I have space at the allotment so I thought I might as well.  I also planted out this year's sowing of wallflowers, which had been waiting patiently in their pots since late spring;  I planted a few in the kitchen garden border and in my tiny front garden, near the newly planted daffodil bulbs.  Was that actually the last planting of 2026?  It better be...

It meant I could finally move the big table off my patio, back on to the lawn, and tidy it up a bit.  That big table has been holding seed trays since March, taking up half my patio.  Now I've swept up, brought the houseplants back indoors from their summer vacation, and even weeded a little around the edges.  The beds themselves need a good tidy, but at least the patio looks much nicer.

Lots of chilis at the front, aubergines at the back, October 2026

Still harvesting too many vegetables!  At the weekend we filled our sacks with more tomatoes, cucumbers, leeks, big black radishes (for cooking), fennel, Brussels sprouts and a cauliflower.  I think the toms and cucs might have had it now;  they both still have some fruits but may not be able to grow/ripen now.  Maybe the toms.  However, there are still a lot of the rest--and more:  still have a bit of cabbage, kohlrabi, pak choi, komatsuna, parsnips, beets, chilis.

Speaking of chilis, the husband took it on himself to make a batch of chili sauce with the toms, chilis, garlic and onions we grew.  I'd already made a recipe called Easy Hot Sauce from another website;  I think maybe I didn't use enough chilis as it isn't very hot.  More like a mild spiced vinegar.  Hopefully the husband's has more of a kick;  his recipe is from Joy of Cooking, substituting chilis for red bell peppers.

Little aubergine:  most didn't get much bigger than this, October 2026

In sad news, our ten year old Pekin bantam Cookie died last week.  She was an excellent broody hen and mother to many chicks, as well as being our favorite chicken all around.  She's been with us so long;  we'll really miss her. 

The last planting of 2026

It's continued to be mild and dry for the most part, and at the allotment my cucumbers and tomatoes continue producing, albeit more slowly.  I've started harvesting early leeks, fennel and winter radishes;  the last two only went down at the end of July/start of August.  They're all bulbing up nicely regardless.  It probably helped that this large bed received a huge amount of well composted horse manure in spring:  I grew Charlotte potatoes here earlier this year.  Incidentally, though probably unrelated, it's the only vegetable bed not mulched with wood chips this year (we mulched the potatoes with straw/manure from the stables on site, some of which still remains on the bed).

The whole family turned out to the allotment on Sunday to plant the garlic bed;  I'd been forking this bed gradually after clearing away the courgettes aka zucs and squashes--it was full of bindweed and couch grass runners.  We raked off the wood chips, forked it over again, planted the (newly bought) garlic cloves in rows and recovered with the original wood chip mulch.  I'll try to get a couple more wheelbarrow loads of chips to top it up too.  I know we didn't get all the roots, but if I can keep it well mulched, any remaining weeds and grass should come out a lot easier when we harvest the garlic next May/June.

The son and I planted a sack of daffodil bulbs in our tiny neglected front garden this weekend;  he made some trenches in the grass around the edges of the lawn next to the driveway and street, then we just put down the bulbs, packed fairly close together.  Then we tried to put the original clumps of grass back as they were.  This is the third year running we've put down new daffodil bulbs at home, but I haven't put them in the front for years and years (and those seem to have all disappeared now).  Obviously daffodils aren't edible, but they make me so happy in the spring, especially when everything else is miserable.

My kitchen garden is much less orderly than my allotment:  it's a tangle of weeds with some random small patches of veg, such as a couple of immature cabbages next to the twenty or so pickling cucumber vines, with a kohlrabi or two hiding amongst several tall lettuces gone to seed, next to another fifteen or so strawberry plants, next to...etc.  Everything is still producing just a little bit so I'm not quite ready to clear away--though it really needs it!  So untidy.