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.

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.

The Vegetable Challenge: victorious! (and more kimchi)

Although I'm posting this on the very last day of the Vegetable Challenge, I hereby declare it finished successfully (at 11.59 tonight).  No vegetables were bought (mushrooms were bought by another member of the household which was not against the rules, but it was agreed no more buying fungi until the end of the Challenge)--not even onions, which were allowed per the rules.  The Challenge was set for seven months, and the whole target period was achieved.

We almost exclusively ate vegetables that I grew at the allotment and in the kitchen garden.  A few vegetables were obtained for free (for example, other allotmenters' excess zuc), and we already had some from before the start date of the Challenge (for instance, vegetables I dehydrated in 2024).  But at 578# of veg in 2025, obviously we had plenty to eat.

What next?  I'm continuing with the spirit of the Challenge until Easter I think.  The husband wants onions badly!  So for now we buy onions and nothing else.  At Easter there is usually a cheap veg sale at the supermarkets (there was one at Christmas but I wasn't even tempted);  I may replenish my frozen and dehydrated veg stores at that time.  After this I will consider starting anew, with a target of eight months.

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I'm still making kimchi:  around 6 L at the beginning of January using turnips, white radishes, leek/garlic, and 7# of Chinese cabbages (I got them all picked before the start of a two week long frost);  last week I made another L of water kimchi with my rather small harvest of pink winter radishes along with garlic/leek and chili peppers from my nearly dead plants.  Right now I'm eating some fennel kimchi:  it originally started as fermented fennel with dill but was rather uninspiring so I poured in a cupful of leftover kimchi brine to make it magical.

The Vegetable Challenge in winter

Our Thanksgiving meal was lovely and included lots of homegrown ingredients, including vegetables, eggs and herbs.  We had a nice dinner with friends;  now we're looking forward to Christmas dinner, though just with our four selves.

I'm still picking a few fresh things from the garden and allotment; this last week I've picked lettuce, cauliflower (I thought I'd already got them all), turnips and Chinese cabbage.  I still have fresh leeks in the fridge and squash in my living room, plus various bags in the freezer--and quite a lot of jars in my fridge and pantry:  dried, fermented, pickled.  The Vegetable Challenge has another seven or so weeks to run, and I'm fairly confident about achieving it this time.  I'm even confident about extending it beyond its finish date of 21st January.

Because of my garden and allotment plan this year, there's been plenty of variety and meals haven't got monotonous, at least not yet.  Eating with the season has been interesting and tasty I think.  I liked eating salads every day in summer and I've appreciated starting on the preserved veg at the start of winter:  pickled cucumbers and beets recently.  I've been trying to get through jars to make room in my fridge!  To that end, the last of the early summer sauerkraut has been cooked into most of my stews, and I'm alternating my breakfast kimchi with mixed veg salsa (which also pairs very well with eggs, regardless of having a very different flavor).

And after looking forward to it all year long, it's nice to start finally eating the first parsnips.  I don't have a lot this time, but next spring I'll try to get a full bed instead of just a few rows.  A nice treat in winter.  And I still have a small bed of pak choi awaiting me:  the anticipation is almost better than the eating.

First frost and jobs before Thanksgiving

First snow from the patio door, Nov 2025

Like last November, we got both our first frost and snow this past week, though the snow thankfully didn't last long (a few hours).  A few days later I went out and dug up my two dahlias and trimmed off their frost-blackened stems;  the same day I also went to get the runner bean tubers (seen to the left next to the wooden fence in the photo above) but as I approached with a shovel, my two ducks refused to leave their "tent."  Every day they've been sleeping under these leaves, in the shelter of the bamboo canes supporting the vines.  I could have booted them out but they looked so happy under there I didn't have the heart to disturb them:  I'll try again soon.

It's been a mix of frost and rain since, and not good weather for gardening.  I made it to the allotment one more time, this time to pick a couple of bolting Chinese cabbages.  We've been enjoying it like pak choi, which it resembles in taste and texture (I still don't know if this variety is meant to form heads or just a bunch of loose leaves like it is now).  I made a small jar of kimchi with it too.

In addition, I had to go out and pull all the remaining Lyon leeks from my kitchen garden, which had flopped over in the cold.  I was only going to pick my usual one a day, but when I touched it I realized it had gone a little mushy--I checked the others and most were in the same condition.  So I spent a cold muddy hour getting them all dug up and washed before going in to work;  the next morning I trimmed and froze most of the long green leaves, putting the white stalks in a few bags in my fridge.  I expect I'll still get a month's worth of meals of these stalks before moving on to my cold tolerant Musselbrugh leeks still growing at the allotment.  Recall that I have no more onions and per the terms of my Vegetable Challenge, while I'm allowed, I'm trying not to buy them;  leeks are my onion substitute for now.

It's Thanksgiving this week!  Our family is American as well as British and it's the favo(u)rite holiday of at least one of us.  As usual, the husband has the day off to do the bulk of the cooking;  we are having three additional guests (an adult and two big teenagers)--and we are in the midst of the Vegetable Challenge!  The pumpkin (squash) has been cooked and pureed for pie, the mashed new potatoes only need thawing and reheating (I strategically froze them back in summer, just for this meal), the other vegetable dish is to be confirmed but there is plenty of choice in the freezer, and still some standing veg in the garden and allotment too.

Cold coming

I'm waiting on a frost before attempting any parsnips from the small bed in my kitchen garden;  I sowed them interspersed with carrots which have been a bit small.  Will my parsnips be any bigger?  I may find out this week as it's forecast to freeze soon.  Although I've had some good parsnips in the past, they've not been very reliable for me;  maybe I need to sow them in bulk rather than just a few small rows.  I think interplanting/sowing with another crop (like carrots) is probably the best way in my garden, in case the parsnips do fail.

Because of the forecast, I also went and picked the very last (mostly green) cherry tomatoes at the front of my allotment:  that's it for fresh toms this year, though I have bags and bags in the freezer.  While I was at it, I picked every achocha bigger than a marble.  These don't survive a frost either, though they self seed readily every year so obviously the seeds don't mind it.  I haven't planted these on purpose for years, and I've never even planted them at the allotment!  They must have got there from seeds in the scraps for the compost.

I've read that leeks are better after a frost, which may be true;  I usually don't pick them until late winter/early spring.  This is the first time I've begun picking in autumn and to be honest, I can't tell a difference.  Maybe I'll be able to decide this coming week, if it does frost.  I still have around twenty more of the early leeks before I start on the later season ones--I would guess I'll probably get to those in about a month from now.  

One more job after a frost:  lift my dahlia tubers for winter, something I promised myself I would do this time.  Last year I had three plants and one didn't make it over winter;  I don't want to lose the other two.  I may try to lift my runner bean tubers too, something I've never tried.  I'm not committed to runner beans and don't care to take the trouble to grow them from seed next year (they've not been very prolific), but keeping existing plants is a reasonable amount of work I'm prepared to do.

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Small note about the Vegetable Challenge:  the husband (in charge of shopping) came home with some mushrooms from the store.  He defended his decision (they aren't vegetables, they're fungi!), and though perhaps doesn't break the letter of the Challenge I have noted it here.  The Challenge is still on:  no vegetables have been bought.  But I have requested than no fungi are bought from now on either.

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.

The last bit of summer

We're still eating our apple a day here, with no signs of slowing just yet.  Actually it's the figs I'm trying to keep up with, as they really don't store at all:  almost all are going in the dehydrator.  I kept a bowlful overnight when the dehydrator was full of shredded zucchini, and there was a little cloud of fruit flies around it the next morning--I won't let that happen again.

I definitely feel a touch of autumn in the air;  cooler temps, getting darker earlier, even a few leaves on the ground--I think because it's been so dry some trees are dropping leaves early (all of my small trees have green leaves but my mature horse chestnut has gone a bit brown).  We had a little rain recently, but not enough to green up the grass just yet;  at least it perked up my new plantings at the allotment (fennel, kohlrabi, cauliflower) and the cooler temps have meant less watering needed.

My tomatoes and zucs have slowed down a bit, and I may have had all the pickling cucumbers though the salad cucumbers are still going.  I picked my five measly sweetcorn ears--not well pollinated, but that's only to be expected I guess;  we ate them fresh and uncooked, the best way in my opinion.  We're still eating a salad a day with lettuce, tomato and cucumber;  and I'm pulling an early leek every other day to use as an onion substitute (although buying onions is allowed per the Vegetable Challenge rules, I'm trying to avoid it if I can)--many are a fairly good size by now, and I want to carry on with my succession planting and follow them on with some winter/spring brassica transplants as soon as possible.

Although I've been mainly harvesting (and watering), I'm still not quite finished with the seed sowing, despite it being the end of August!  I've got some new trays of lettuce, pak choi, spring cabbage (I ordered some new seed for this) and spring onions.  I'll probably have time for maybe one more sowing of pak choi and spring onions if needed, but that will be it for the year--finally.  My patio table has been full of seed trays since spring;  as soon as I've emptied one, I've filled it again with something else.  

So much food! Can we eat it?

 

My allotment, early August 2025

It's kind of hard to distinguish what's growing in the photo above (except maybe that purple artichoke flower):  closest under the nets are Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, fennel and kohlrabi (just newly transplanted), and the one at the back right is newly sown turnip and radish seed though none have emerged yet (waiting for rain).  This does show a good 3/4 of my plot, but to the right (not shown) are my artichokes and plum tomatoes, newly sown beetroot bed--also not up yet--and small shed and compost bins.  Also at the very back behind the squash-filled chicken yard are most of my cherry tomatoes in planters, raspberry canes and a good amount of random pallet wood and other detritus.

The allotment has really done well for me this year so far.  I've kept on top of things for the most part, although the vegetables are still rolling in almost faster than I can keep up with them.  I've enlisted the son to pick tomatoes several times--reminding him of all the pizzas he can make!  He's also helped mulch and water;  it's school summer break so he, the daughter and I are all off until next month.  And this does mean I've got a little more time to deal with all the food.

Right now I'm pickling beetroot, pickling cucumbers, freezing and dehydrating tomatoes, freezing runner beans, dehydrating zucchini, dehydrating figs--and eating eating eating.  Apples, Asian pears, plums.  Lettuce, spring onions, tiny hot chilies, early leeks, self-sown chard.  And that's not counting everything in my fridge, freezer and cupboards already--and fermenting on the counters too.

Will we eat it all?  Can we?  The Vegetable Challenge is on, and I've got to make sure we have enough for the winter until the Challenge ends (and beyond, hopefully).  Keep pickling, freezing, drying, fermenting, storing and eating!

The Vegetable Challenge has begun

The makings of a salad, June 2025

Official start date:  21 June, 2025.  Official end date:  21 January 2026.  

Rules:

• No vegetables to be bought during the Challenge--with the exception of onions.  
• "Salad" fruits such as cucumber/tomatoes/etc, are allowed but highly discouraged and will be noted.  No restriction on non-salad fruits (apples, bananas, etc).  
• Vegetables obtained for free, i.e., gifts/trades/foraged/etc are allowed, so long as no money is exchanged.  Vegetables bought before the start of the Challenge are allowed.

Greyhound cabbage nearly ready (butterhead lettuce past ready!), June 2025

My last Challenge unofficially lasted seven months, but only officially reached the six month mark;  I am setting it for seven months again--hoping to extend it longer actually--but will leave seven months as the goal.  I feel this should be achievable--and I hope eight months or even the full 12 will be too.  I will do my best to keep on growing and preserving up to and beyond the official end date.

Packing it in: cucumber at the very back, then courgette, cabbage and lettuce;  spring onion at the bottom left, June 2025

I think I could have started this Challenge a lot earlier this year actually--we've been eating garden/allotment veg almost exclusively, barring some seasonal produce bought crazy cheap (£0.09 per kilo?!) at Christmas and Easter, which we mainly either froze or fermented for later use.  I'm now freezing and fermenting my own seasonal produce too.  Let's go!

Full speed ahead!

Three pounds, seven ounces! June 2025

I thought my first cauliflower was massive, but the one above was a full pound more;  I went on a cauliflower marathon over the weekend where I picked and processed them all (eight in total):  most went into the freezer, heads and greens.  I also made almost 3 L* of sauerkraut with the stems:  I shredded these in my food processor, making quick work of them.  The son also cooked most of one head into cauliflower cheese for dinner:  delicious.

In fact I have so much veg all of a sudden, it feels like I'm in autumn harvest already and it's not even summer solstice yet!  I'm desperately trying to keep up with the lettuces (I'm passing them out at work, even) and the snap peas are suddenly covered, as are the artichokes.  The broad beans too, though these aren't cut and come again like the peas and artichokes--once they're gone, they're gone.

It's also raspberry, strawberry and gooseberry time!  I've started a freezer bag of the gooseberries as we have quite a lot, but the kids are eating up the other two as they pick them.  Also got some redcurrants and blackcurrants;  the daughter (age 5) is taking care of the reds but it's up to me to pick the blacks, something I haven't gotten around to for a couple years in a row:  I need to be on the ball this year.

Right now we're eating what can't be preserved--mainly lettuce and artichokes--and I'm freezing, fermenting and drying what I can:  cauliflower/leaves of course, broad beans, snap peas, some herbs (for winter use), gooseberries.  I'm going to have a chat with the husband about starting the Vegetable Challenge, though I may slightly update the rules (this is my own challenge and I get to set the rules after all).  The only veg he's been buying recently are onions.  I think it may be time. 

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Besides harvesting, I'm actually still sowing some seed for late summer/autumn planting:  spring onions, cauliflower, cabbage.  Although the big push is in spring, I don't stop the seeds until around August/September.  Just planted out my third batch of spring onions (been eating the first, still waiting on the second to grow a bit bigger), and I've pricked out my third batch of lettuce too.  I'll be planting all these out as other crops finish later on in summer.

*Both metric and imperial?  I'd prefer 100% metric but my old-fashioned kitchen scales have imperial weights, whereas all my containers are measured in metric.  Work with what you have, right?

Revisiting the Vegetable Challenge?

Last Christmas, supermarkets had a special on certain vegetables, much cheaper than usual;  this has happened for a few years in a row and we knew to stock up.  So for about four days, we went in and bought around 10 kg of various fresh veg;  we froze some, dehydrated some, and kept the rest for fresh eating.  It was mostly carrots, parsnips and swede, but a few kgs each of potatoes, cabbage and Brussels sprouts too.  So obviously, 10 kg a day for four days was about 40 kg in less than a week.  We were in production mode for several weeks afterward, keeping the dehydrator and freezer trays going.

But here's the thing:  we still have nearly all the dehydrated carrots, parsnips and swede in the cupboard.  It's not that it's inconvenient to use;  on the contrary, it's so easy to just tip some into a stew (and we eat plenty of stew!), curry, stir fry, whatever.  And I haven't forgotten it's there either--it's just that this year I've had so much fresh veg from the garden, my dehydrated veg hasn't been needed.

In past years I've done a no-buy vegetable challenge for several months at a time, eating only veg we grew ourselves, were given/traded, or otherwise got for free.  The longest we officially went without eating bought vegetables was seven months (however, I did buy some veg at the six month mark, which officially broke that challenge).  This is something for myself, setting and keeping my own rules;  I stopped doing it after Brexit because of food security worries (luckily unfounded, at least so far).

So this year yet again, no official challenge, yet we really have gone nearly all year without buying much veg;  the only vegetables I've put on the list are onions, something I still haven't succeeded with yet--and one weekly carrot for the small daughter's lunchbox (somehow I didn't buy carrot seed until too late for this spring).  

We really could have gone without these two, although I would have missed onions, as I use them every day (I'm trying again next year).  My freezer is a third full of garden/allotment veg (the other two thirds are meat and berries); I have two shelves in my cupboard full of dried, pickled and preserved fruit and veg;  and my fridge is half full of jars of fermented vegetables/kimchi.  Not to mention the fresh veg still standing, waiting for harvest at both the allotment and garden.

Will I restart the Challenge next year?  Can I officially go the whole year?  I'm not sure!  But maybe 2025 will be the year to try.