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. 

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?  

Let's get it done before summer's over

My summer break off work at last (I work at a school), and maybe I'll have a little more time to devote to my food producing engine--I've got six weeks before the kids and I start back.  I've been racing just to keep up with everything these past couple weeks, particularly since the zucs started.  But it's not just them;  it's also lettuce, French beans, kohlrabi, cabbage, komatsuna (similar to pak choi, which I also have), Charlotte potatoes, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, beets.  I've also been desperately trying to keep a handle on the couch grass and bindweed in my wood chip mulch--I can't let them take it over.

Me at the allotment (zucs in the foreground), July 2026

I'm dehydrating zuc shreds daily, freezing snap peas, putting potatoes into paper sacks;  I've made komatsuna kimchi, made kohlrabi/beet sauerkraut, and I'm cooking up a storm.  We are a family of four:  we can eat a lot, right?  Preservation is a high priority:  I'm unofficially following the Vegetable Challenge (not buying any veg except onions--and even these only rarely) and I'll need vegetables in winter too.

The allotment spoils of the day (heavy!), July 2026

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As daytime temps dropped by about 5C (down from the high 20s), I took a chance and started my late season seeds in pots:  Chinese cabbage, spring cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, fennel, pak choi, komatsuna.  Some of these are second or third sowings, but will probably be the last this year.  Most of these have already started popping up, to be pricked out sometime this week.

I'm also sowing my last half a packet of beet seeds in the potato bed now it's been cleared;  probably some winter radish and turnip seed too.  This bed was generously mulched with well composted manure in early spring when the potatoes went down;  I'll gently fork it over to remove any obvious couch grass runners (a constant battle on my allotment) before sowing, and will cover over with insect mesh to protect from birds/cats/slugs/caterpillars, my usual strategy.  I should be able to take the mesh off by around mid September, as the white butterflies diminish.

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.  

Hot again, carry on cucumbers, bugs and good bugs, ducks

We've had record breaking heat this past week, almost unbearable at my work (a school kitchen);  because it's been so hot I've not done as much at the allotment as I'd planned--it's been too hot to get things done after my shift.  Normally this time of year I'm there both morning and afternoon;  instead I've been going straight home after work to try and cool down in the ten minutes before I have to walk up to collect the daughter from school.

So in the 15 or 20 minutes I have in the morning before school and before it's got too hot, I've finished planting out all my leeks at last, continued picking mange tout peas (sold to me as snap peas, but these are definitely flat podded peas, not the round swollen pods I expected), picked the last of the gooseberries, carried on loosening and pulling bindweed from my wood chip mulch, and of course watering all my containers.  Not all of these jobs in one day, unfortunately!  Though the daughter has helped water in the morning and the son and husband have done so in the evening.

The cucumber saga continues:  the plants growing in my kitchen garden are indeed growing, while I've lost a few more to slugs at the allotment.  Regardless, I feel a little more confident about the possibility of harvesting some, at least at home.  However, I may not be able to save seed as I have two varieties growing practically in the same bed:  a pickling variety and a salad variety.  I don't want cross pollinated seed as I really do want both types;  I might have to buy seed for next year.  Though if the salad variety at the allotment manages to produce I may be able to save some uncrossed seed from them.

It's only in the last week or so I've seen the cabbage white butterflies out and about, fluttering around my brassicas.  I've even found a few inside the insect mesh at the allotment;  the cabbages have grown so tall they've pulled the netting up enough for butterflies to sneak in.  While I have a few unprotected plants at home--the mature spring cabbages I've been gradually harvesting and a few late-sown kohlrabi--I put my last small piece of mesh over my newly planted pak choi bed.  

On the positive side, there are also a lot of hoverflies in my kitchen garden this summer.  And I mean a lot!  I've read they eat aphids in their larval stage, so I can only assume they've been busy earlier in the year.  I think they're really cute, hovering around my flowers and plants.  While not as populous as the hoverflies, I've also seen a lot of ladybugs and larva going about their business.  I let all the bugs get on with it for the most part in both my garden and allotment, and let the resident predators take care of any problems for me, a la permaculture.  My policy is live and let live and the only active role I take is against cabbage caterpillars, but not with insecticide or anything like that;  I pick them off and give them to my ducks.

Speaking of ducks, it's been about three months since we adopted those three nervous Snowflake ducks--how are they getting on?  We officially combined the whole flock in April, about a month after we brought the Snowflakes home.  They are much less quacky now, less scared of everything and used to free ranging in the garden;  we still lock them up overnight and let them out again in the morning.  Boy Duck still chases them once in a while, but they don't freak out about it and he's much less aggressive about it too.  Girl Duck has gotten really slow and trips over her own feet when she tries to run;  I worked out that she's actually about 10 years old now, and Boy Duck is 8.  The Snowflakes, not yet 1 year old, are all laying an egg a day:  big tasty ones with lovely white shells.

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.

Plants and weeds at the allotment

I feel like I should be at the tipping point now:  moving from the planting phase to the harvesting phase.  But not quite yet.  It feels like summer:  lots of light, lots of heat, and for the last week no school (half term holiday but back at school this week).  However, the summer crops aren't producing yet and I'm not quite finished planting.  

I pulled back the insect mesh to weed cabbages and plant next year's purple sprouting broccoli at the allotment, May 2026

Of the sad little cucumbers I planted out, most seem to be still alive--maybe lost two out of around 20.  So far, that is.  Using different potting soil, I planted a tray each of the two varieties, pickling and salad, in the hopes they might grow more successfully than the first several attempts.  I can see a couple starting to emerge, but only time will tell if they'll fare any better.  

I spent a couple hours at the allotment over the weekend, planting out broccoli and squash and getting weeds out of my wood chip sheet mulch.  Also topping up the wood chips here and there.  We took the chickens back home a week ago as the forecast was for 30 C, much too hot to go without shade;  unlike at the allotment, our chicken yard at home is in full shade most of the day, so they've been keeping as cool as possible there instead.  In just one week of their being away, several squash seedlings have sprouted in their allotment yard.  They grew there last year too.

Zucs and squashes newly planted in plastic rings;  kohlrabi and cabbages under mesh;  me still digging at the allotment, May 2026

It's been fairly easy to loosen weeds out of the wood chips with a garden fork, no real digging required.  I'll need to keep on top of the weeding though:  I can re-sheet mulch on top of a bed of straw mulch, but I don't want to sheet mulch on top of wood chips as they don't break down quickly enough.  I will, however, keep topping up with wood chips, weeds or not--as long as the council keep providing them on site.

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.

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.

No room! and a duck truce

So much to do at the end of April.  My sowing window is almost closed for summer plants.  But next up are autumn and winter plants, some of which are already going (leeks, cabbage and Brussels sprouts).   And as usual, I'm running out of space to plant everything out.  I want to grow it all!  But where do I put it?  

I had earmarked a bed at the allotment for my squash but now that push comes to shove, my cabbages are ready to plant whereas my squash aren't even sprouting yet.  I desperately need kimchi so I can't neglect my cabbages, right?  It's ok, I have a backup plan:  when I harvest my garlic I'll put the squash there, despite it growing in that same bed last year.  It won't mind, so long as I put another generous helping of well-composted horse manure on the bed first.  

I also wanted to grow my tomatoes directly in the ground but it looks like that's not going to happen either;  they'll have to grow in containers again.  About half of my containers are already full of overwintered onions however--I'm not certain when these will be ready for harvest, but I can tell it's not imminent.  Luckily I've acquired a large wooden shipping box and have filled it with some of that horse manure, ready for at least four plants.  I already had another one, just need to fill it.  They are more like raised beds really, not like the individual plastic planters I already have.

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I finally got those lethally prickly rose branches sent off in the gardening waste collection but even after two pick-ups, I haven't cleared all the bamboo roots!  That was a big plant.  There's still a mighty clump waiting for the next collection in two weeks' time.  I'm kind of wondering if I should have saved some more of it to grow as screening, for instance in the small front garden (recall I did save one small piece, replanted in a container sunk in the ground out back).  I guess it's not too late to break up that big chunk--I'm sure it'd still grow even three weeks after uprooting.  In containers, of course.

I think the Snowflake ducks are settling into the flock, a few weeks on from their forced integration with our two old ducks.  Initially I was letting them free range with Boy Duck and Girl Duck but locking them up in two separate yards overnight (Snowflakes in one, Boy and Girl in the other);  however Boy Duck--and as my sister once remarked, "that duck is a jerk"--had nightly been breaking out of his yard and into theirs.  So after a bit too much of that malarkey, we decided they might as well be locked up together.  And after a few weeks things have somewhat calmed down--at least we're not hearing panicked quacking at all hours. 

Peas and beans, and warm weather seeds

Seeds sown, seedlings pricked out, transplants into the ground.  I'll be repeating this cycle for the rest of the growing season.  Unlike in recent years, I'm not sowing everything individually in pots--though I am doing many seeds this way--the beans and peas have been pre-sprouted and sown in situ, a big savings on potting compost.  Also a big savings in extra table space on my patio, and on pots and trays which can be used for different, less numerous plants.

Snap peas and broad beans are small but growing well at the allotment.  I put down a short row of dwarf French beans at home too, not shooting up yet.  I tried to pre-sprout some climbing French beans at the same time which did not sprout;  I guess the seed was too old.  I'm trying again with some two year old seed, which also might prove to be too old;  both batches were seed I'd saved myself, but ended up not growing last year as I ran out of space--instead I grew some runner beans which ended up rather disappointing.

And of those runner beans, I tried to regrow some roots/tubers that overwintered, but they don't look like they're going anywhere either.  I'm not planning on sowing new seed in any case;  the harvest was too small to justify wasting precious space on them.  I'd much rather have French beans which have been far more prolific for me over the years.  While I prefer the climbing beans to the dwarf, I could only buy the dwarf beans in the seed sale last year;  therefore I'm hoping my saved seed will pull through (and I'll save some more if it does).

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Although I was hoping to keep my tomatoes outdoors now that the days are warmer, we're forecast a week or two of near-frost temps overnight.  I can't risk it, even though my sheltered patio microclimate ought to be safe enough.  These have spent some nights outdoors this past week, but I'll have to shuttle them in and out again until it's more like 6C or warmer overnight.  As a precaution, the son and I also mulched over our newly sprouting potatoes at the allotment too:  a couple inches of stable bedding (mostly straw).  The allotment is much more exposed and will probably frost.

Regardless, I've started my next wave of summer crop seeds:  salad cuc, pickling cuc, and zuc.  These have to start indoors, hence the need to move tomatoes outdoors, but until they sprout they can at least stay stacked on each other in one place.  I need to remember to start a second batch of both cucs in mid-May too, as my pickling cucs in particular seemed to run out of steam before the end of summer.  Need more pickles!  

The last summer crop seed yet to sow are my squashes.  I try to start them about six weeks before planting out, generally at the beginning of May.  Last year I could have planted them out earlier had I sown them earlier (it was a very warm, dry year) but in general they get planted in early June.  As I don't have the room for them just now, I'll stick to my usual timing.

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.

In earnest at the allotment

My ornamental garden with orange flowering berberis to the center, Kordia cherry tree to the right, and a Birthday chicken, March 2026

Now past spring equinox, things are starting to move a bit quicker, myself included.  Every day for the past week--excluding Saturday as we all attended the son's orchestra concert instead--I've been at the allotment getting work done.  In fact, on the school days, I've been twice a day:  both before dropping off the daughter from school and after finishing work but before picking her up.  

In the first instance I sowed a prepared bed with beet seeds, and covered it with insect mesh to keep birds/cats digging it up (I generally cover all my beds at the allotment after sowing/planting, at least until the plants are established).  

Then the daughter and I spent several days on the snap pea bed:  it had been newly sheet mulched with wood chips so we moved aside the mulch and laid down rows of compost, dug from the bottom of our composters.  Then we sowed the pre-sprouted peas over the course of two days and lightly sprinkled mulch back on top.  Finally, another sheet of mesh for protection.

 Another job which the whole family participated in:  planting out potatoes.  The daughter and I put down two short rows of seed potatoes I'd saved over winter (I grew them last year but these few were too green to eat).  A few days later I bought 1 kg of Charlotte seed potatoes to fill the rest of the bed, and the son and husband got these ones down (the ones I'd saved were also Charlottes).  Like last year, I'm growing them no-dig:  we raked aside the existing straw mulch to expose bare soil, placed the sprouting potatoes directly on it, and then covered them thickly with well-composted horse bedding (straw/manure).  I will give them one more layer of the less composted bedding--mostly straw--to prevent weeds sprouting on top.

And in addition to putting things down, I'm also taking things up:  regular picking of leeks and rhubarb (at the weekend I made a compote with some frozen strawberries we'd picked at a farm last summer) and I've started on the purple sprouting broccoli.  I was also very excited to see the new asparagus poking up, though I won't pick any this spring.  At home I'm also picking a little more chard, and some new season mizuna and lambs lettuce.

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.

The start of spring, and everything

There has been sowing.  There has been pruning.  There has even been repotting (I put my three small blueberry bushes into one very large container).  The sun has come out:  is it spring yet?  I think it just might be.

While I'm reminding myself not to go overboard like last year, I've been feeling the sunshine like a gentle push to action.  Time to go outside;  time to do something out there.  I'm also reminding myself that I want a more analog life--I need to get out and do stuff, not be attached to a screen like I have been for many of the dark days of winter.  

I am continuing the sheet mulch at the allotment (son has helped me a little), and I'm still happily pulling leeks.  I picked the last of the overwintered beets--surprised to find any worth picking actually--and possibly the last of the chard, as it looks like it's starting to go to seed.  I also sowed those last February seeds (cherry tomatoes and chilis, though I'm not confident about the latter);  and started sowing March seeds too:  Savoy cabbage, early leeks, spring onions.  No sign of the broad beans yet.  I've pricked out the plum toms and bulb onions, sown at the start of February;  the onions went outside in their tray, in the most sheltered spot on the patio--hope they don't get too cold after their indoor start.

March is the time though, the time it all kicks off for real.  Though I'm easing into it, there's a little sense of urgency:  let's get some stuff done before time runs out. 

Stalled...

After a prolonged rainy spell--the news had it at 40+ days--we've finally seen the sun again.  Unfortunately for my garden/allotment, I've had other commitments take precedence, and I haven't done much work in either for the past week, despite it being half term week and no school for the kids and no work for me (I work at a school).  We are undertaking a home improvement project, forecast to take several weeks.

In the small amount of time I've spent outside I've up laundry, let chickens out for free range, and picked a few cabbage leaves for dinner.  The kitchen garden is looking very sparse now, just a couple of very small cabbages of various types.  I'm hoping the sad looking spring cabbages will perk up and start to grow again, but I'm not very confident about the Savoys;  they've been there about six months and I feel they ought to have done something by now.  I guess the Savoy seed was pretty old though the spring seed was new when I sowed it last autumn.

At the allotment things are just a bit better, with a good amount of leeks still and maybe a bit of chard from two self sown plants.  However, I have to actually visit if I want to eat it;  I've not been for a full week.  I've been pulling about five leeks at a time, to tide me over till the next stop, but I ran out and haven't been back.  I'll stop by after work at least one day this week, maybe today.  

It's about time for me to start revving up the indoor seed sowing;  I've only done plum tomatoes and onions so far, both sprouted up now, and soon to be pricked out (I got my broad beans in the ground too).  I have a box of seed packets in my cupboard, organized by month of sowing, and the February slot has been calling my name;  better get into it before it slips by me.

Let's start

I'm back in seed sowing mode, a small beginning to a very big job.  Here's where my whole food producing engine starts.  I think I was sowing seeds until around August last year, both in trays/pots and directly in the ground.  Because of all that work, I've had fresh veg for the whole year, even now in February (just picked the last pak choi and white radishes, and no end in sight for the leeks).

This past week I've sown two trays:  chili seeds in one and onion and plum tomato in the other--both wrapped in a plastic bag to act as a little green house, sitting on my kitchen window.  I had to move my spider plants to the north facing living room window with my aloes, as vegetables get priority over houseplants;  facing south, the kitchen gets the maximum of sun of anywhere in the house.

The plum tomatoes came from seed I saved, from a lineage I've been saving for a few years now.  I hope to get about 25 plants.  To save on space they're broadcast into half a tray with the onion seeds.  I sowed some of the same onion seed back in August, which are still growing in containers at the allotment (though I think slugs may have eaten a few).  I may grow the rest of them in the ground in the kitchen garden;  I'm out of containers and when I grew them in the ground at the allotment they didn't amount to much.  I've not had a lot of success growing chili and other hot climate plants from seed but giving it another go.  

And finally I sowed my broad beans at the allotment last week in a sleet shower--I got very wet and muddy.  It didn't matter though:  I had pre-sprouted them at home and needed to get them in the ground before they went bad, whatever the weather.  Luckily I had prepared the rows already, so when I got there it was just a case of placing the seeds, covering them back with soil, and then mulching with some wood chips on top to prevent weeds germinating on top.  I also covered the whole bed with some insect mesh, as a bird/mouse deterrent;  I'll take it off when the plants are a few inches tall.

Gratuitous chicken photo:  Rock's head, Speckly's bottom, Feb 2026

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.