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. 

Only a few plums, keep on harvesting and preserving veg

After all that hoping and waiting, I just didn't have the physical (or mental, let's be honest) capacity to process our plums.  I gave a sackful to a neighbor and made a batch of unsweetened puree for crumbles (I was able to squeeze most of it into the freezer):  I estimate about 8-10# in total.  I didn't weigh it.  The daughter managed to eat a couple dozen too.  But the rest has gone to the birds/wasps/worms:  maybe about 20-30#.  

I had 2.8 L of kilner jar space to make some cucumber refrigerator pickle slices last week, but I'm really down to the wire for jars now.  A couple small ones, like 250 mL each, and one more 1 L kilner jar.  I mainly use the kilner jars for fermented veg, or fridge pickles.  And did I mention how full my fridge is of pickles and fermented veg?  There isn't a big tradition of canning/bottling in this country so jars and lids aren't easily obtainable.  I have to make do with what I have.  

I managed to clear my kohlrabi bed at the allotment, pulling all the usable kohlrabi and digging lots of grass runners--I have a monster compost pile at the front of my allotment now, next to my five full compost bins.  I've left the bed unmulched for now, as I plan on making one more pass with the garden fork first;  maybe I'll win against the grass one of these years.  After trimming off all the leaves and roots I stacked the kohlrabi in a box (on my kitchen floor!  I have no space!);  I'm trying to use one every day or so:  I like to shred them (peeled first) and marinate for salad.

Still picking toms, cucs, zucs, French beans, onions.  Soon:  lots of squashes, komatsuna (regrowth after flea beetle damage), beets, early leeks.  Maybe in the future (not very close):  carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, pak choi, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, winter radish, cauliflower.  Looking good for a spring harvest:  hardy leeks, purple sprouting broccoli.  

Defeated by fruit, but at least it rained

Elephant hawk moth caterpillar, munching my grape leaves, seen from my kitchen window ("Wow, what is that??"), Aug 2026

My lettuce experiment at the allotment didn't fare quite as well as the pak choi earlier in the season.  The slugs/bugs have pretty much mown them all down, though at least the Chinese cabbages in the same bed are still hanging on, just:  they have some bad flea beetle damage.  In my previously sown beetroot/radish/turnip bed (luckily these look ok, though there were gaps), I've transplanted what remained of my pak choi and spring cabbages, also sad from flea beetles.  Both beds are under insect mesh, but obviously the mesh isn't keeping everything out.

I've had to admit defeat on my figs and grapes:  the birds can have what they want.  I can't preserve them (no jars, no freezer space) and they don't store.  The daughter is eating some every day, but not as many as the tree and vine are producing.  I'm all figged (and graped) out.  And of the apples:  the son picked two large baskets and I keep reminding everyone to eat their apple a day.  But.  It's just too many apples, despite only being two small, espalier-ish trees;  at least these will keep for a couple weeks.  Then there are the plums...

Still bringing in too many tomatoes and cucumbers.  I was wrong about the zucs before, but maybe this time these really are slowing down.  Maybe.  I've made the executive decision to stop picking purple snap peas and save the rest for seed.  These did better than I initially judged:  they started out slow but ended up completely surprising me--I'll definitely want to grow them next year.  

On a more positive note, it rained!  Actually it's still pretty dry, but grass is slightly greener, and some self sown mizuna have spontaneously germinated in my kitchen garden.  My water butts both refilled too, and all my plants look a lot happier having had several good long showers.

I managed to clear away most of the harvested Savoy cabbage plants at the allotment;  they had enormous root systems and were starting to resprout.  I snapped off the new growth for fresh eating/dehydrating and put the huge old outer leaves and stalks to compost;  these had to go in a new pile since all five of my plastic composters are still full to the brim.  I was trying to remember what I filled them with, and I think it was mostly grass (was it really)?  I'm not known for digging grass, but that's certainly the only stuff I can see.  I guess it must have some other weeds and of course the potato tops, but did I really dig up so much grass?  

This pace is brutal!

I told my son to get my leg in the shot for scale comparison (not quite knee high), Aug 2026

Still "enjoying" the heat and dry this summer--and the bounty that comes with it (it did rain a little bit the other day).  Honestly, I promised myself I would scale it back a bit this year and not make it so hard on myself like last year but this has not worked out quite like I planned.  I'm working just as hard while much of what I'm harvesting at the moment is a glut:  tomatoes, cucumbers, figs, apples, even zucs still.  

And though I'm getting a more reasonable/moderate harvest of aubergines, onions, snap peas, French beans, komatsuna;  these in addition to the excess of the previous means I'm simply overflowing.  I'm barely coping.  Maybe I'm not quite even coping:  my counters and fridge are all full, not to mention my freezer and cupboards.  

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My fermented crushed tomatoes finally finished actively bubbling;  I skimmed off the solids into a jar in the fridge for winter use (still pretty liquidy) and have been using the remaining liquid to cook with now--it's salty and delicious.  I have about 2 L in the fridge and could maybe squeeze in one more jar of the same size (fridge is pretty full!).  The husband has put some tomato slices to dehydrate, and I also bottled a batch of tomato/chili sauce using some of the jars I liberated last week.

My newest batches of ice cream are fig/strawberry and fig/blackberry, both using berries we picked and froze last summer plus fresh figs.  I made just plain fig ice cream too but found it uninspiring, though the kids didn't complain.  

At the allotment I started picking salad cucumbers, variety Marketmore (from my own saved seed).  Recall the pickling cucs there all succumbed to slugs, though I still have both those and Marketmore also growing at home (and have been picking them for several weeks now).  I've attempted to grow them vertically but with limited success.  The cucs at the allotment have a bamboo cane teepee but are not growing up it much--it's a tangle of vines and hard to see any fruits amongst the lush leaves.  The cucs at home are more in a cluster of bamboo canes.  This also makes it hard to find them--especially the pickling cucs--before they get too big.  I still want to grow them up canes but I'll try rows next year, for ease of picking.

Lastly, the son and I have managed to replant the mange tout bed at the allotment with lettuce and Chinese cabbage seedlings, and the remainder of the potato bed with fennel;  we spent some time forking out grass runners and deep mulching with wood chips first.  I need to the same to the cabbage beds next, now that I've harvested them;  while it's late in the season there are a few things that can still start now, such as overwintering onions, spring cabbage and pak choi/komatsuna.  And I'll need a clear bed to plant garlic in early October too.

Still harvesting and preserving, still sowing and planting

I think my allotment has passed peak zuc.  Going from around 5# per day to 1# seems like a downturn, right?  I can handle 1# per day.  I've left one to grow into a marrow to save for seed;  this is one I grew from seed saved last year.  The fruit I saved from was a typical dark green zuc but had obviously crossed with a different variety as its offspring grew fat striped tasty zucs this year.  Since it's been growing amongst several different varieties again I expect it will be something even more fun next year.

In the face of an overload of tomatoes, I decided to try fermenting a large jar, crushed into sauce.  To be on the safe side, I generally go kind of heavy on the salt when I ferment veg, usually 2 T of salt per L;  the tomatoes haven't really gone very active, at least not yet--probably because of that extra salt.  I've made fermented salsa in the past using both red and green tomatoes, so I'm somewhat confident;  I've just never done it with just straight tomatoes.  I have a 1.8 L jar on the go and two more empty jars to try:  one the same size and a 3.3 L.  

I went through the back of my kitchen cupboards and found some jars I'd forgotten about:  a cucumber relish I'd made back in 2021, and a couple jars of dehydrated garlic stems which had no flavor.  Also two jars of caramel and rhubarb jam which were still good but we are a low- to no-sugar family--I decided to make a clean break and compost them (just one little taste!).  Any fruit preserves I make from now on will have no sugar added.  While this liberated a few jars for me, it's not enough to deal with the tomato influx!  Instead they will do for dehydrated veg, and I have a little more room for now.

The son and I have been renovating a couple beds which have just been cleared at the allotment:  the Charlotte potato bed (finally) and the mange tout pea bed.  We've spent a couple hours forking out grass runners and spreading new wood chips on top;  I'm hoping to transplant some quick brassicas and fennel there, but the brassica seedlings have been attacked by flea beetle and look very sorry indeed.  I don't know how the flea beetles got to them so high up on my patio table, draped with insect mesh;  I'm not sure if they'll pull through actually.  At least the fennel and lettuce seedlings (all sown on the same day) look healthy, though small still.  Maybe I'll risk the lettuce at the allotment too, usually a no go because of slugs;  I risked the pak choi earlier this summer and it paid off--the lettuce might pay off too.

Still picking purple snap peas, small aubergines, salad and pickling cucumbers, French beans, a little cabbage, and a beet or two.  Thinking about a couple onions, kohlrabi, komatsuna and fennel.  The last batch of lettuce bolted in the hot/dry, but my newly sown seeds of beets and radishes are sprouting up.

An allotment helper, still too many vegetables, making kimchi and ice cream

 

A helper at the allotment, July 2026

That little amphibian pictured above also has a friend, slightly smaller.  A female and a male maybe?  We don't have a pond at the allotment but instead an old pond liner smothering weeds;  it has a dip in the middle that has a continual puddle from watering--our little frog puddle.  This one had been lurking in the zuc patch that day and quickly made its way back to the puddle and the safety of the tomato overgrowth nearby.

Speaking of tomatoes, we (well, the husband mostly) have been picking a reliable 2# every other day this past week.  So far I've been making tomato heavy meals, but supply is starting to outpace demand.  I really want to bottle some--but have very few jars left.  The freezer is seriously full now, and the dehydrator is constantly packed with shredded zuc (we're going to be eating this for the rest of the decade I think).  What to do?

I had another kimchi marathon, making about 9 L over the course of three or four days.  I've got an additional 1.8 L of pak choi kimchi and another 1 L of komatsuma too.  And have been slicing up zuc for fresh/unfermented kimchi as needed.  To me it tastes less spicy when fresh, maybe because it doesn't have the sourness.  The zuc softens down so fast I think it would turn to mush if fermented;  I like the fresh texture, and it has a slight sweetness too.  The Savoy cabbage I used for the majority of the kimchi is much more robust;  I probably won't get to it till autumn or even winter--when the zuc gives up!  I've read that kimchi can last a year or more, although I doubt mine will--I'll eat it long before a year's over.  Unlike with the tomatoes, I don't have to have hermetically sealed jars for kimchi or other fermented vegetables;  the salt and acidity prevents spoilage, so long as the jars are kept tight shut.

The daughter and I are waiting for the figs to ripen, although I also have some trepidation:  it's loaded!  It's been such a hot dry summer, our dessert of choice has been homemade fruit ice cream--no doubt fig will be a delicious flavor.  She and I have gone out on our bikes to the local country park to pick wild blackberries, to tide us over.  They're big and juicy this year;  some years they're small and seedy.  

To make ice cream, I cooked them slightly in a pan with a tiny bit of water, just to soften--they really released a lot of juice.  After cooling down a little, I put the entire contents through my food mill with the smallest plate size to catch all the seeds.  Then refrigerated until cold, sweetened to taste, and gently folded with whipped cream.  I froze this mixture in a variety of containers (some silicone muffin cups and a plastic takeaway tub) and we enjoyed it the next day after dinner.

An excess of veg, but too hot for seeds

Last week's heatwave was hotter than the previous (though less humid at least).  Thus I've been in harvest mode only, though even that has been almost too much work: a lot to pick!  Still picking lots of zucs, lettuce (not all have bolted yet in the heat), purple French beans, cabbage and new potatoes; and a few artichokes, kohlrabi and purple snap peas (I still plan to save seed from the peas).  The raspberries are just about done with;  and I managed to pick a tub of blackcurrants--unusually for me--to make a small batch of ice cream in the same way as the gooseberries.

I can see little cucumbers forming on my plants at home;  I also have a lot of tomatoes at the allotment, none red but maybe turning a little lighter green?  They are all really bushy in their containers and I haven't done anything to tame them;  since they are growing in composted horse manure they are extravagantly lush.  What's more, it's about time to harvest the allotment pak choi for a batch of kimchi.  Maybe I can do that next week, when school summer holiday starts.

I did have a moment of "what have I done" with the zucs;  I've given a few away, we're eating a fresh/marinated zuc salad every day--and I've dragged the dehydrator out to dry them, shredded.  These go well in stew/chili/etc in the winter.  I made a jar of refrigerator pickles;  I also sliced some thinly to use instead of pasta sheets in lasagna, salted first to draw out water (I defrosted some of last summer's tomatoes to make the sauce too:  really tasty).  And I've been sneaking the fresh shreds into burgers, meatballs, curry, everything. 

The heat/dry has rather put a hold on my seed sowing however.  I still need to start a few autumn/winter plants but doubt they will survive in this weather:  Chinese cabbages, spring cabbages, winter radishes and turnips.  Also the last sowings of beets and lettuce.  I just need it to cool down a little before I start these--I hope it's not too late in the season by the time it does.  Because we are so far north, we lose a lot of light by autumn--if cool weather veg are started too late they won't have enough light to carry on growing, even if the temps are still mild.

Zucs, replacing peas with fennel, raspberries, losing chickens

In the last week or so--after the heatwave--I've done as much as I can at the allotment:  we're expecting even hotter temps later this week so I've been in a rush to get things done.  This includes planting out:  fennel, beets, the last couple of spring caulis;  also keeping up weed maintenance on my wood chip beds at the allotment, mainly bindweed now but also some couch grass.  I've also topped up a few of the beds where possible (some are very dense with veg growth now) and the pathways between.

It might be shaping up to be a zucchini summer!  It's been three years since I had an overload of zucs aka courgettes.  I have about a dozen or so plants, some in states of excessive growth.  The daughter (age six) said to me, "monsters aren't real, are they?" and I replied, "except monster courgettes!"  Which one of my plants is trying to produce (and I'm desperately trying not to let it).  I prefer to harvest mine at about the length of my hand, though I know some people at the allotments let them grow arm-sized.  Like shoulder to wrist arm-sized--way too big.  One way I like to process them is kimchi;  another is to slice and marinate for an hour or two with salt and pepper, plus a little vinegar and olive oil, plus fresh herbs/diced onion/fermented garlic.  I made it with fresh basil the other day and it was amazing.

I think the hot weather did for the mange tout peas as they've stopped flowering, though my newer batch of purple podded peas are still producing (only a small batch though);  I'm going to save seed from both of these, so no more picking.  I pulled up most of one row of the mange tout in order to follow on with fennel seedlings;  the soil underneath was a bit hard and dry.  As the other row of peas next to it grew larger and more productive, I can only assume the soil under them is a bit better.  I tipped on two more barrowfuls of wood chips before putting in the fennel and the husband has been drenching them every night when he goes to water.  Hopefully the soil will improve and the fennel will grow.

The gooseberries are finally finished but we are still in the midst of raspberries.  And I'm experimenting with more no-sugar ice cream (rasp and dark chocolate anyone?).  I have a food mill with a very fine plate which works well for sieving out rasp seeds (gooseberry too, though they aren't quite as seedy).  I get a lot of use out of my food mill as it's handy for both pureeing and straining simultaneously.  Squash puree, applesauce, berries, etc.  No need to peel and core before cooking, as the food mill catches all the fibrous material.

We've lost several chickens in the past couple of months, down to six now.  Our last lost one really is lost:  she disappeared completely.  I'd let the flock free range in the evening and forgot to shut them back in after they went to bed;  when I went to put them back in the morning, one Birthday chicken didn't come running.  We've searched everywhere for a body (we have a lot of undergrowth, not all of it easily accessible by people) even though she was fit and healthy the day before.  Either she's dead in a hard to reach spot or she really flew the coop--also hard to believe as our fencing is pretty impenetrable;  not only that, to even attempt it she would need a very compelling reason to leave all her friends and the amenities of our garden (everything a chicken could want: grass, weeds, bugs, dust baths, a nice safe coop with unlimited food).  If it was a fox surely it would have left at least a pile of feathers or other evidence (we've never had a fox thankfully, not being close enough to the fields).  We're mystified.  

Harvest time, planting time, getting a handle on the grass, delicious gooseberries

All systems go!  I've gone from picking a little here and there, to all things at once:  lettuce, cabbage, mange tout peas, broad beans and onions (just harvested all of these), beets, new potatoes, gooseberries, raspberries, currants, cherries.

In addition to harvesting all of the above (mostly at the allotment), I'm still in the last stages of planting out.  I've finally put in all the last cucumbers, split between home and the allotment;  same deal with the pak choi.  My patio table, full of trays since spring (I kept transplanting out and then refilling the trays) at last has empty spaces.  I'm not quite done sowing seeds:  I'll do a batch of Chinese cabbage and at least one more of lettuce and maybe beets;  and a little later on hopefully some spring cabbages and possibly onions to overwinter.  I'm also planning on direct sowing some radishes and turnips later in the season too.

The whole family helped clear away the broad beans in order to replant the bed with leeks, all three trays waiting patiently since March.  Though it was a hot morning, we got it done (mostly me actually--the husband's leg isn't quite better, the daughter's only six, and the son was dragging his heels):  we pulled all the plants, stripped the pods off, forked the bed lightly to remove any weeds and grass roots, then mulched heavily with wood chips.  My composters are full to bursting. 

Actually, this bed has had two more crops since I grew potatoes there last summer:  Chinese cabbage in autumn/winter and broad beans this spring.  So this is the third time I've sifted out grass roots and actually there were a lot fewer this time--it was teeming with them after the potatoes came out last July.  There were some clumps of grass growing amongst the broad beans, but it wasn't completely swamped and the soil was fairly soft under its light mulch of wood chips--I last topped it up when I sowed the broad beans in February.  I spread a much thicker mulch on top this time.

I'm still doing weed maintenance on my wood chip mulch, little by little:  just loosening roots out with a fork (almost exclusively bindweed and couch grass, no other weeds).  However the newest sheet mulched bed is sprouting grass and it's not yet soft enough underneath to simply loosen it out.  Instead I've been topping up with more wood chips, but until it really composts down below, it may have to stay grassy.  Unlike the broad bean bed, which had no existing growth when I deeply mulched with wood chips, here I'd laid down cardboard sheets over some very vigorous grass/weeds and mulched on top of this.  

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What do I do with gooseberries?  One year I made jam--then gave it away as we are a mostly no-sugar family.  This year I experimented with making sugarless gooseberry fool using sweetener (we prefer a stevia/erythritol blend), only I may have gone a little overboard with the whipped cream.  As I sampled it after folding it all together, it reminded me of ice cream, so of course I immediately popped the whole tub in the freezer.  It turned out great!  A little sour, well balanced by the creaminess.  It was literally just gooseberry puree (cooked, cooled, then put through a food mill), a spoonful of sweetener, and a lot of whipped cream.  Delightful.

Cucumber woes, rainy veg, digging and cherries

My poor little pickling cucumbers are no more--at least not at the allotment.  I planted out the last batch (the last batch still alive that is) in my kitchen garden at home, in the hopes they might live long enough to produce.  They're all only just growing their first leaf:  still pretty small.  I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best.

However, my four salad cucumbers previously planted (also at home) are still alive and have grown somewhat, despite the rain and somewhat chilly temps this past week;  I  have a last batch of these too, not yet planted out.  The forecast says it'll be a bit warmer this week, which they and many of my other summer plants need.  I say many, because I have some plants quite happy for it to be cool and rainy:  peas, lettuce, onions, beets, cabbage, kohlrabi.  At least something has been flourishing!  

I've begun harvesting the peas (mange tout aka snow peas), lettuce and onions so far.  As my direct sown beets have come up rather sparsely, I've started some more seed in modules to hopefully plant out by the end of the month--though I do have a couple early sown beets I have my eye on.  And the broad beans are so close--all covered in pods, but not quite big enough;  I need to pick these as soon as possible, so I can transplant my leeks in their bed.  Grow!

I spent every day last week digging out grass/weed roots from the allotment bed that I harvested garlic from;  I also mulched it heavily with wood chips and have begun replanting with cauliflowers.  If only I could plant leeks here--but I can't follow alliums with alliums, especially in the face of white rot.  Instead, it has enough space for some pak choi too, but I'm still undecided.  Do I risk it?  I have very little space at home any more, and it's getting a bit big for its little pots--like the leeks it needs transplanting very soon.  One more on the soon list:  fennel.

I netted my Stella cherry tree--though the net didn't quite cover all the branches;  and I covered some ripening fruits of my Kordia cherry tree with cloths like last year.  Kordia was simply dripping in blossom this spring and I had such high hopes, but no.  It's only got a few clusters of cherries here and there.  Stella, still not looking very healthy, also not many cherries.  However, my Morello cherry tree has a good amount of fruit for its size (a mini dwarf) and they are just about ready for picking;  though I netted it I don't think I quite got it bird proof, more like bird resistant--so I need to get in there quick.

Asparagus growing, garlic harvesting, losing more cucumbers, and eating some fruit

 

Asparagus (and a few weeds) to the front, artichoke and raspberry (and a lot of weeds) behind, May 2026

Check out my asparagus!  I'm trying to keep it weeded as well as possible, as that bindweed means business.  At the back are the transplanted artichokes, not expected to produce this year, plus the very weedy raspberry patch (lots of little berries on these).  I've got at least 10 cm of wood chips on this bed.  In fact, every bed that's mulched this way should have a minimum of 10 cm, but I'm trying for even more in places.  I haven't picked any spears this year, in order to let the crowns establish;  I may not pick any next year either, but we'll see.

This weekend my garlic came up somewhat in a rush, because of white rot.  I never had this disease until last year:  the bulbs start to go moldy and if left in storage will just disintegrate.  I won't be able to save any of my own garlic for replanting this year, as it all seems to have it;  instead I'm mincing it all up and freezing it, and will buy new bulbs in the autumn for replanting.  I'm a bit sad about this:  I've been self sufficient in garlic for many years now, but my winning streak is broken.  I'll probably plant the new cloves in planters instead of directly in the ground, in the hopes they'll avoid it next year.  It looks like my overwintered onions grown in containers are free from the infection, so that gives me a little hope.

The son, daughter and I did some work on the now empty garlic bed, digging out grass and weeds and raking out roots.  In fact, we had to stop before the bed was all clear as we completely filled our five composters!  Well, they weren't empty to begin with--most were about half full already, but still:  a lot of compost material.  I was able to spread a few wheelbarrows of wood chips on the edge of the bed, where it meets the next bed (previously mulched and growing peas and beetroot).  I'll carry on clearing the bed this week and will just have to make a pile until some of the older stuff compacts down.  Luckily this time of year that doesn't take long.  I may sow some turnip and beetroot seeds here, or possibly transplant fennel, or even pak choi though that's a risky idea:  slugs love love love pak choi, and it would probably survive better in the kitchen garden (except I don't have any room!).  It's a rather big bed, so I might even have space to do all of the above.

Of my sad cucumbers, all but one of the pickling types have bit the dust:  I think it was slugs.  Of the salad types, four--of five--are still growing.  I have a lot of little seedlings growing in trays from a very late sowing, but none are quite big enough to transplant.  To be honest, four salad cucumber plants is adequate--but I definitely need more pickling cucs.  They need to get a move on!  It seems like the potting compost may have been the culprit in the early demise of all the other cuc plants.

In other news, we've begun picking strawberries, gooseberries and redcurrants!  It seems early?  Maybe not.  We don't have many strawberry plants (all at home), but there are two bushes each of gooseberries and redcurrants, and all four are completely loaded.  I put some wire over the strawberry plants, and also netted my small Morello cherry tree, not quite ripe but close.  What's more, I thinned out the apples on my two trees:  no more than two fruits per cluster.  It hurts, but I did it;  I know from past experience that big clusters have little fruits and little clusters have big fruits.  I want big fruits.  

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. 

Picking up the pace

Quite a lot of gardening has happened over the past week, mainly in the Perennials section at home, but a bit of action at the allotment too;  it's the end of our spring break off work/school.  The son and I finished working on the bamboo at last and also drastically cut back the overgrown laurels at the very back of the property.  The laurels were planted by a previous owner, presumably as a hedge;  now they are part of my regular coppice rotation and I cut them back every five years or so for firewood.  

On a sunny, dry day I managed to dig out some of the excellent compost from the bottom of the chicken yard and spread it on part of my veg beds, both around my strawberry plants and onto a weedy bed destined for onion seedlings.  I have a tray of onions, rather small, which I will transplant in a few days after the compost has settled/been rained on.

In addition, I finally sowed a packet of parsnip seed in another bed I'd cleared earlier (with the help of my free ranging poultry).  There's a space below this bed which is earmarked for carrot seed:  very soon!  I also transplanted some lettuce seedlings in between the parsnip rows, and put a short row of dwarf beans at the back (I'd soaked them first);  then I covered the whole bed with insect mesh, mainly as a pigeon deterrent.  

Speaking of pigeons, it looks like they haven't stripped all my plum flower buds off this year--maybe we'll get some fruit at last?  We were wondering if the old pair of wood pigeons moved on/died--we have still seen a pair of them in the garden, just not eating buds off trees:  this might be a new pair who don't know the delicious taste of flowers yet.  Perhaps the Kordia cherry will have fruit too!  I'm keeping an eye on things, but there's not much I can do to prevent them if they decide to attack.

I'm starting seeds and pricking out seedlings regularly;  most of my seeds are started outdoors, broadcast into small pots on my patio table and then pricked out into trays--only roots like parsnips/carrots/beets get sown directly into their beds.  My tomato seedlings are spending nights indoors but having day trips to the patio for sunbathing--only a couple days have been too cold/windy for them;  hopefully in a week or two they'll be acclimatized enough to move out and I can start my next batch of indoor seeds:  cucumber, zuc, squash.  I don't have enough room on my sunny kitchen windowsill for everything at once.

At the allotment my snap peas and beets are just emerging under their sheet of insect mesh.  I prepared another row nearby and put down my kohlrabi seedlings, also under some mesh.  I took the mesh off the broad bean bed at last (mesh goes on most of my newly planted/sown beds to keep birds, mice and cats off) and put it over the kohlrabi instead.  As a brassica, it's in most need of the mesh to keep the cabbage white butterflies off when they start to lay eggs next month.

I'm still harvesting Musselbrugh leeks, but getting very near the end now.  Maybe a dozen left?  I'm also picking purple sprouting broccoli once a week, hopefully till May at least.  And rhubarb once a week too, though it's prolific enough for a much more generous harvest;  maybe I should make a batch of wine this year, something I haven't done for a while.  I rarely drink alcohol but it makes a unique gift.

A few jobs here and there

Our three new ducks, now designated the Snowflake Ducks (or Snowflakes), are still enclosed in their temporary yard and not hiding in their little coop quite so much.  They don't like us coming too close but will hopefully get used to us being out in the garden as time goes on.  They've been with us just over a week and I'm not ready to let them mingle with the old ducks.  Maybe after another week.  Moving from a barn/farm to a garden/free range is enough of a big scary change--I want them settled in before they face Boy Duck and his territorial aggression.

We've had two birthdays in the past week so not a lot of garden/allotment action has happened.  The son and I managed to get to the allotment on Sunday for sheet mulch;  in addition, I picked some leeks and rhubarb and prepared a bed for beet seeds (hopefully to sow within the next day or two).  What's more, I even caught enough of a sunny spell to wander around the garden with a pair of secateurs and prune my remaining roses, currants and grape vine.  

I've pricked out several trays of early seedlings now (but still more to go), and have started some snap peas in a jar;  I like to soak/pre-sprout my peas and beans before sowing.  And at last a few broad beans are sprouting up at the allotment, after sowing more than a month ago.   I'll need to start clearing weeds and spent plants in my kitchen garden so I can begin sowing there:  I'll be focusing mainly on root crops at home this year.  I like to rotate what I grow there, and last year was mainly brassicas and leeks.

A friend gave me a couple of small potted fruit trees (belonging to her relative who died recently):  a pear and a Bramley apple.  I've wanted a Bramley or other cooking apple for a while now, ever since the big feral tree in the next village over was bulldozed:  we used to pick a couple of sacks every autumn, and they lasted several months on trays in our living room.  I already have a lot of fruit trees, and two other apple trees besides!  Nevertheless we were able to tuck the Bramley in the back corner of our garden.  I also already have a Kumoi pear so the little pear tree might go to the allotment later on;  it's now in a very large container and I'll have to decide if I want to leave it or plant it out.

Preserves!

It's the time of year when there is very little fresh, but we are behaving as though we are still in the Vegetable Challenge (only eating what we have, not buying veg).  Currently fresh:  leeks, a little chard and pak choi (both will soon be gone), herbs.  This means most of our five a day comes from preserved veg.  So what's on the menu?

Dried veg  

A lot of my dried veg came from 2024 to early 2025, though I did dry a few jars worth of zuc and toms during the Challenge.  Carrots, parsnips, swede (all bought on special);  also some squash chunks and cabbage greens from the 2025 harvest.  There are still a lot of jars but I am using the oldest ones up gradually in stews/casseroles/etc a couple times a week.  

Stored veg

It's only squash and chilis left in the dry store;  I have six or so squashes left (most of them pretty big) and a chili plant still alive on my kitchen window.  The plant is only barely alive;  its compatriot already bit the dust and those chilis are in a little basket on my counter.  However, I expect them and the squashes to last a good while longer (even if the plant dies).

Frozen veg

My freezer was jam packed at the end of summer but there's a lot more room now.  Still remaining:  half a bag of broad beans, three months worth (I hope) of minced garlic, and three or four large bags of toms.  I'm still adding squash puree once in a while, as we cook our squashes--we can eat the smaller ones quickly enough but we have to freeze some of the excess from the big ones.

Pickled veg

I made two kinds of vinegar pickles in 2025:  cucumber and beetroot.  I still have a large jar of refrigerator cucumbers and several smaller jars of sealed beetroot in the cupboard.  We've eaten about half of these preserves so far.

Fermented veg

Now this may be my biggest form of preservation, or closely behind the dehydrated veg.  I made loads and we've eaten loads--and we still have loads.  My personal favorite is kimchi of course, and I've been making it regularly throughout last year.  

I also made a rather large batch of what I labeled "mixed veg salsa" as an end of season catch-all;  the major ingredient was green tomatoes but I also had cauliflower, leeks, zuc, green beans, fennel...I can't actually remember everything I put in it!  Whatever it was, I whizzed it all up in the food processor and added a few chilis so not too spicy.

I experimented with a mustard/turmeric mixed veg, aka chow chow, but I think it's a little too overpowering.  It's sour and mustardy, and we do like it, but it's more of a condiment:  use sparingly.  I might make a small batch next time, not a big one like last year.

The last main category of fermented veg was sauerkraut, in all its glory.  I made it with cabbage, I made it with shredded kohlrabi, I made it with turnip mixed with beetroot.  It all turned out so good.  I think the turnip/beetroot combination is the best and I managed to make several liters of it.  

All this fermented veg has lived happily in my cupboard until needed; once I open a jar I put it in the fridge, but unopened it seems to seal itself quite nicely--none of it has spoiled yet. 

Fruit

Ok, not veg, and not part of the Challenge, but I do have some frozen berries and cherries, and some dried figs and apples.  Also some jars of apples, plums and one of blackcurrant jam.  And a couple jugs of homemade currant wine.  Nowhere near the amount of fruit in my stores as veg--just enough for an occasional treat.

A few jobs, nothing too strenuous

To my surprise, there was a dry sunny-ish day at the weekend;  all week I've been getting rained on whenever I left the house.  Not only did I finally put my laundry out (it mostly dried), I did a couple small jobs in the garden.  

First off, the daughter helped me roll my small potted peach tree into the garage--it's on a little plant "skateboard."  I grew this peach (or possibly nectarine) from the seed of a supermarket fruit many years ago.  Unfortunately it gets bad leaf curl every year, first dying back and then putting out spindly new growth;  in fact I thought it had completely died two years ago.  But it held on, just.  Last winter I put it under cover and for the first time it didn't get leaf curl;  the idea is that if the tree stays dry as the leaves emerge, the fungus can't attack it.  Maybe it can grow and actually fruit this year.  Maybe.

While we were in the garage we did a little tidying (the garage is more like a big shed) and crushed our winter's collection of eggshells, in preparation for scattering around transplants later on in spring.  We save all our eggshells and let them dry on trays in the garage.  I also give some back to the chickens for extra calcium.  When he was small, the son used to enjoy crunching them up, and now at age five the daughter likes it too.

Then I got out my hand secateurs and nipped off the new water shoots growing straight up from the Sparta apple tree.  I prune this tree once a year to keep it within my reach, no taller than the 2 m fence it grows next to.  I also cut out any shoots growing perpendicular to the fence, to keep it somewhat espalier.  The Laxton Fortune tree needs less pruning as it doesn't seem to be such a vigorous grower, but it has a couple to be taken off the top too.

Lastly, and before the daughter started crying of cold hands (she started making mud pies while I was pruning), I split some little green logs using our small hatchet (I use it as a wedge and whack it with a mallet).  We'd coppiced a smallish ornamental pear tree for firewood during the Christmas break, with the husband using the reciprocal saw while the son and I wielded loppers.  The sticks and twigs were collected in one pile and the short trunk pieces stacked in another;  I worked a bit on this second pile, keeping myself warm with the exercise and enjoying the sunshine.

The year in fruit

 2025 was an incredible year for growing in my garden and allotment.  As I mentioned before, I almost doubled the amount of veg grown from the previous year, and as for fruit, I've never grown so much in one year.  I can't prove this conclusively, as I've not been consistent about recording my fruit harvest (ever);  I can accurately state however, that it was the best year on record for fruit, at over 42 lbs.

I can hardly believe it, but half of the above total was from figs alone!  My Brown Turkey fig tree grew from just a little cutting which I think I bought off ebay (I can't remember exactly, but I do remember it was a cutting and I bought it online).  It grows in the sunniest, most sheltered spot of my garden, my most favoured tree.  We ate a Lot Of Figs;  I dehydrated some and gave some away too, but mainly we ate them:  so sweet and juicy.

The next best spots in the garden are given to a Morello cherry tree (on a mini dwarf rootstock, only about as tall as me), a Phoenix grapevine, a Czar plum, and a Robijn almond.  I harvested various amounts off all of these, but only recorded cherries and plums.  The grapes were disappointing, some going moldy before ripening;  and the pigeons picked off most of the plum blossom resulting in a sparse harvest (a problem I don't know how to prevent, except maybe with a pellet gun and pigeon pie?).  But I have cherries in the freezer, plums in jars and unshelled almonds in a box.

Moving to my less auspicious garden places, I have two apple trees, two young quinces (from seed, but not produced yet), two sweet cherry trees, and several currant bushes of different colours;  and a small bed of strawberries in the main veg patch.  I got a good amount of most of these, barring the sweet cherries--the pigeons gave them the same treatment as the plum (I think the branches of the Morello tree are too spindly for pigeons to perch on, which is why it was spared).  Unexpectedly, I got an apple harvest in 2025, from my two trees which have produced biennially up until now (though it too went unweighed).  I don't know if this is the new trend, or if they will go back to their old habits and take 2026 off:  I hope not.

Lastly, I have raspberries, gooseberries and redcurrants at the allotment, which is in full sun but exposed to winds, not sheltered by trees, fences and walls like my garden.  Since all of these are pretty hardy, I still got a good harvest, though again unweighed.

Grand total of garden food, 2025

Vegetables: 578 lbs, 6.5 oz

Fruit:  42 lbs, 3 oz

Eggs: 799

My goodness, did I smash it last year!  I almost doubled my previous year's total of veg, itself a record breaker.  Best performers this year were squash at 92 lb (though about half this total was from 2024's harvest, more than half of 2025's large harvest is still hanging out in my living room waiting to be weighed and eaten), cherry tomatoes at more than 66 lb, and plum tomatoes at just under 47 lb.  Honorable mentions include almost 36 lb of cabbage;  and a close finish of potatoes, zucchini, cauliflower and lettuce(!) each hovering in the 26-28 lb range.

My fruit totals were much higher this year, both because I recorded more (failure to record fruit harvest has been an ongoing issue over the years) and because I grew more.  It was a bumper year for figs, and a good one for apples, berries and Morello cherries.  However I still didn't weigh the apples (counted them by volume, though I estimate they weighed around 40 lbs themselves) and some other fruits;  this official total includes Morello cherries, blackcurrants, figs, pears and plums (does not include apples, strawberries, gooseberries, sweet cherries).  Regardless, it was a good year and we still have jars in the pantry and bags in the freezer.  

The chickens rather slacked off in the egg laying department for 2025, but what can I say?  They're all rather old:  when they die off, we replace them with younger but still somewhat old chickens, so no wonder the eggs aren't as bountiful.  Oh well.  We like our feathery friends the way they are.  Eggs are just a bonus these days. 

The weather was for the most part in my favor this year, but the work I've done on the soil (no dig, plus copious amounts of manure/compost over the years) has definitely played its part.  My soil held plenty of moisture, enough to see my allotment plants through to harvest;  we had a very dry, hot year and a hosepipe ban from summer onward.  Nearly all my plants enjoyed the heat without being too affected by the lack of rain;  it also meant a huge decrease in slug pressure.  Note:  I still needed to water my containers once or twice daily.  A few things finished earlier than I'd hoped, such as the snap peas and first sowing of turnips--and my carrots and parsnips were a bit small--but nearly everything else produced well.  Exceptionally well.

I grew that much in the past year I don't expect to beat it for 2026:  in fact, it was so much work I almost couldn't handle it all.  Even tallying it all up over the weekend was somewhat of an ordeal!  I would like to grow a similar amount of veg or slightly less.  Maybe over 318 lb (2024's total) but not more than 578 lb.  I have my seeds ready to start, and I have some standing veg still to be harvested; I will go over last year's plan to hopefully make it a little easier on myself.

See previous grand totals:  2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

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.

Autumn jobs: harvesting, clearing away (and still planting!)

 

After working at the allotment (that's me), September 2025

This past Saturday I cut down the tall artichoke growth at the allotment, in preparation for moving some of them to the back;  they have been taking up about a 2m x 5m bed near the front until now.  They made a very fine privacy screen!  But they can do the same job at the back of the allotment, shielding me from the view of the houses beyond.  I would rather have that front bed for annual vegetables and keep the (lower maintenance) perennials to the back;  also to the rear:  raspberries (trying to get them a little more orderly too) and newly planted asparagus.

The son came with me on Sunday and we planted the garlic in one of the squash beds;  I'd just picked all these squashes and cleared away the vines and weeds.  This bed had been sheet mulched just before the squashes went down in May (and we topped up the mulch after the garlic went down) but was still somewhat grassy and had new bindweed too.  I've not seen bindweed until maybe last year but the whole site suddenly has it, not just my own plot.  I don't know how it was introduced but we've all got it now.  I'll try to keep on top of it;  I've been pulling it out where I can.  I still have a few squashes growing in two other beds, ready to pick now too.

I'm regularly picking fennel bulbs from the allotment and the second small batch of kohlrabi.  Even the tiny beetroots that I left after picking the main crop are big and ready for harvest now (that surprised me!  I'm now glad I left them);  the self seeded achocha are coming in now too.  There are also a few tomatoes left to come:  I have the plum toms in the ground and a few more cherries in planters at the front.

At home I cleared away all four zucchinis plus weeds and replanted with the last lettuce batch of the year;  I put down some netting over it, mainly to deter my own chickens and ducks but also to keep pigeons off.  The Chinese cabbage and pak choi I planted in the next bed over look very happy under their own net, and they are right next to my strawberries, producing a second crop.  I still have some spring cabbages to put down somewhere; these are the final seedlings of 2025 (at last).  They look a bit spindly--I hope they grow a bit before winter.

I'm still picking the last few salad cucumbers at home, along with some lettuce;  there are still plenty of early leeks which I'm picking every other day or so as my onion substitute.  And we're still eating our apple a day!