This is a really busy time of year, and some days I feel like I am on a production line. I often get two harvests a day. We have to make sure that the garden abundance provides us with a lot of food, not only for now, but preserving it for winter.
Prices keep rising and so growing food is not a hobby, but a necessity. The vegetables and fruit are not just side dishes, or puddings, but integral parts of our diet. They provide a lot of our nutrition and they helps me stick to my shopping budget. This is what we are harvesting and preserving now at the beginning of July.
Rhubarb. My rhubarb is still doing well but I usually stop picking it at the end of July. The crown remains healthy and strong by not continuing to harvest. This year I have frozen 6 packs of rhubarb so far. I have also made rhubarb and ginger jam, pies, crumbles, a few other desserts like rhubarb and walnut cake, and rhubarb and ginger cordial. Rhubarb chocolate brownie is my favourite dessert.
Pak choi. These have provided us with lots of greens, especially in April and May. They have started bolting now, but I let some do that to save seeds. As they start to bolt, I strip the leaves, chop and blanche and freeze, or place in a glass lidded dish in the fridge with a paper towel. They keep to use that week.
We air fry pak choi basted with butter, chilli and garlic, have it in stir fry, and stir fry it as a side in sesame seed oil and mixed with chilli and garlic. It has gone in curry and ratatouille as well. I have frozen two lots of it, but will be sowing again near the end of July for use in autumn.
Currants. We grow red, black and white ones. They form a hedge on the boundary of my garden. They are just ripening at the moment and over 4lbs have been picked so far. We mainly freeze them to make our weekly compote over winter, but I will also make some jam and infused gin (some for Christmas presents), some desserts, and use some in baking. My grandson likes me to make fruit leathers as well. This year I intend to make some cordial also.
Garlic. These are grown from supermarket cloves that sprouted and this year they have done really well. I use them in most cooked dishes and to make dips.
Lettuce and salad leaves. I grow these all year as we eat a lot of salad, and they also bulk out and add nutrition to sandwiches. Some of my lettuces bolted with the hot weather that we have been having and so they were made into a soup.
Carrots. I am still only thinning the carrots at the moment, but they are a reasonable size. I am growing them in one of my new raised boxes with onions and they are probably the best I have ever produced. I have used them in stews, a curry, grated in salad, grated into meat to bulk it out, put in fritters, and in carrot cake over night oats. As I get more carrots I will grate and dehydrate to use in winter bolognaise, make carrot cake, and freeze to use as sides. The tops I have used in a stir fry, made a pesto, and have dried to make green powder.
Radish. I just had some stray ones left for salad as I have not had any room to plant any more but will sow some at the end of the month. Usually I will slice and put radish in stir fry, use in salads, and make fridge pickles with them.
Onions I ran out of stored onions about a month ago and so harvest them as I need them, but try to leave them if I can. I have preserved onion and wild garlic powder that I use for flavour, or leeks and spring onions. A few onions bulbs are just starting to need harvesting now. Later in the season I will make onion powder with the skins and top layer.
Gooseberries I don’t grow a lot of these and the bushes are only 2 years old. I mainly use them to bulk out compote as they are not our favourite fruit, but are easy to grow and they come back every year.
Cucumbers. We have a glut of these at the moment. I use them a lot as crudities with hummus and dips in our picky lunches, in salad, in sides to have with curry, or make fridge pickles to preserve them to last longer.
Grapes. Our vine is only in it’s second year and hasn’t provided any fruit yet. It was in a pot but is now in the ground. I have used some of the leaves to stuff with spicy mince and rice.
Courgettes. These are a staple part of our summer cooking. I use them to make curry and ratatouille, in stir fry, grated in salad, or add them to quiches. I also make waffles with them and spirralise them to use instead of pasta. They are grated and added to minced beef or pork to bulk it out in burgers, meat balls, sausage plait etc as well. Our favourite way of eating them is as courgette, sweet potato and cheese savouries, and they make nice fritters, too. Mr S likes them fried in butter as a side, and I like to stuff the larger ones with meat or ratatouille and put a cheese, herb, and bread crumb topping on top. Courgette, coconut and lime cake also makes a nice dessert. We never grumble about out glut of courgettes as they are so useful. 😊.
Raspberries I have some summer raspberries and some autumn ones. We like them with yoghurt, cereal, or waffles. I freeze half of them to make trifles in winter, or Eton mess at Christmas.
Spring onions This has been my worst year for these. I think that I had some bad seeds. We have had a few for salads and to put in Chinese foil parcels with salmon. Usually I use them a lot in stir fry, as crudities, or instead of onions until the latter are ready to be harvested.
Giant spinach This is my first year growing this and it hasn’t bolted as smaller spinach does. I have used it in salads, quiches, in stir fry, in a spinach and feta cheese pie, and in a curry so far.
Potatoes
I grow lots of potatoes. We start them in the greenhouse in February and I plant my last ones in September. They go in the greenhouse before the first frost. We grow them in tubs which doesn’t provide as many as they would if grown in the ground, but they are easy to harvest and the season can be longer. I tend to plant some every 2 to 3 weeks. We eat potatoes two or 3 times a week. As well as using them as a side or to thatch a pie, I make potato salad, potato nachos, cheese and spinach potato layer bake, and many other dishes. The small ones I put in stews or curry. I don’t peel early potatoes but the skins of older ones are washed and turned into crisps for a snack.
Beans. I have grown 3 kinds of beans which include field beans, broad beans, and climbing beans. The climbing beans are not ready yet. Most of the broad beans are frozen for winter. The field beans have been added to most of our summer dishes or used as sides.
Peas. I grow pea shoots for salads as well as growing 3 or 4 big pots of peas. This is the only crop that works out more expensive to grow, but we love them raw in salads. I use them as a side sometimes, but mainly in rice dishes, quiches, pies, and my grandson actually likes pea pizza! The pods are sliced and put in stir fry, or made into a soup.
Herbs. I am busy drying herbs to use in the winter. I just dry them in my conservatory or on the back shelf of the car. I then grind them up in the coffee grinder. We use a lot of mixed herbs and so that is what we dry the most, but I also dry rosemary, and bay leaves.
Things for teas. My intention is to save lots of different items to make blends of teas for the winter. I have been drying lemon balm, mint, strawberry tops chopped from the strawberries, blackcurrant leaves, and I will dehydrate fennel seeds when they are ready.
Strawberries
The strawberries have just about finished. We are just finding odd late ones. Sometimes we get a second crop in a few months time. We have made strawberry and lemon sorbet, ice lollies, jam, and eaten loads just as they are with ice cream, cold rice pudding, or cream.
Growing all of this food is a lot of hard work and responsibility, but it saves me a lot of money. More importantly it is all organic with no pesticides or additives. It is also fresh and often eaten or preserved on the day it is picked. What is most abundant in your garden at the moment?
Very interesting post thank you. My strawberries did well too. I’m also leaving my rubarb to die down. I’ve harvested my cabbages. My kohlrabi have just germinated. Everything is looking good at the moment.
Yes I saw your photos in the group. Well done. I have seen your growing really improve during the year and you are being more patient. Brilliant. Well done x
What an inspiring post! To achieve such a level of organic growing without having an allotment or large plot of land is awesome! I can imagine the hard work you put into it but it’s so worth the effort! Here’s to the simple, frugal life!
Absolutely. It is good for our general health and my mental health too. I always wanted to live on a homestead and so this is my compromise to fulfil my dreams 😁
Only have a small garden now as hubby and I couldn’t manage the allotment anymore. Saying that there are tomatoes, cucumbers in the little greenhouse with carrots and courgettes doing well in the garden. We also have french beans and and runner beans beginning to flower and mixed lettuce growing well. Strawberries were a big hit especially with our granddaughter who lives with us. Gooseberries and blackcurrants are in the freezer but the raspberries never made it as they were eaten lol. The last raised pot has my onions in and they are doing well. Chives and rosemary are a permanent part of the garden. I didn’t think we were growing much until writing this but………. xx
It sounds like you pack loads of good food into your small space. Brilliant. Yes we couldn’t keep up with our too allotments either. The rules were very strict and weeds were not allowed. I was letting some of mine grow for eating 😊
That’s absolutely inspiring. This year I’ve been trying to increase what I grow and have found your ideas really helpful. At the moment we have cucumbers, two different kinds of lettuce and courgettes ready, aubergines, peppers and tomatoes coming along and have harvested about 5kg of sour cherries- I’m just about to turn some of them into jam.
Fantastic. The birds get our cherries every year and so we chopped our tree down this year. I bet that jam is gorgeous.
Inspirational post! I don’t achieve anything as impressive. Doing very nicely with potatoes. I have 6 b+q buckets on scaffolding planks on bricks so I don’t need to bend. Waist high troughs of carrots have meant I have no white fly this year and plenty of carrots. Still boasting that the expensive ( for me) strawberries I bought in August for my birthday tea,left one slightly squished one. I peeled it and planted it. 5 mega healthy plants from it resulted in so many strawberries this year. I’ve got 3 runners on one plant that I’ve pegged for new plants.So happy that I achieved this from a single m+s strawberry. My expensive indulgence paid back big time!.
I love that about your strawberries. I have never tried that. Yes waist high is the way to go. It has helped me. Like you, my carrots have done great in the raised boxes made from palket wood.
I am hoping to start growing more
Next year but for the first year since OH passing and trying to get new routines and and finances in place I have had success with one of my two spinach pots. Unfortunately my carrots have not done very well may have a go at
Planting some more seeds. Lettuce is doing really well I have 5 left but as only me eating them I try to harvest before too big. Tomatoes are growing well so hope to eat a lot fresh, bottle and make arrbitta sauce for over winter. Chillies are just starting to form so will dry and process for chilli flakes. I hope to sort out area near greenhouse and shed a get another raised bed in there for next year and some pots but want to do in away I can keep up with with dog, work and son and not be too tired to enjoy myself with friends and family. I am so impressed with how much you manage to produce to see you through the winter
Balancing your growing does sound like a good idea. It takes over my life a bit at times,especially in summer. It doesn’t feel like I have a choice if I don’t want to go to work. I don’t grow in winter, thought (except things like Swiss chard that look after themselves), and so I get 4 or 5 months rest.
I’m like you in feeling like I’m working a production line. Everything seems to be coming in fast and an over abundance. I made myself a promise to not over preserve. We have been sharing our harvest with friends and neighbors. We have plenty put up for winter and they get fresh vegetables to enjoy.
That is so kind of you. I do g8ve some to family andvuse some for Christmas presents but we need all the rest to feed ourselves.
It has felt like a production line here recently. I know the blackcurrants are now only coming in dribs and drabs and the raspberries have slowed down too. Only half of one gooseberry bush to do, 2 others have been done. Jam and chutney made from those and a few frozen but we are not especially fond of them in puddings. Blackberries are producing more each day from the first newer bush and then there will be the other older ones after. Blue berries are ripening every day and we eat some, freeze some and our dog likes a few. Strawberries have more or less finished. The pear tree looks good this year. I hope the pears don’t fall off now. We have red currants but don’t use them all as we only like a few raw but the pigeons like them. Rhubarb has been very good this year and we have frozen lots and given some away as well as eat it and put it in jam and made chutney from it.
Courgettes are coming faster now and we are using them, made ratatouille and frozen some for winter. We have given a few away too.
Cucumbers are growing in the greenhouse and we are eating them and our son took one and a courgette this morning. Runner beans were slow but are speeding up with growing. Broad beans not so good as something has taken while pods and the plant. Peppers are growing well but something has t
made some brown patches on some. I read it could be the extreme heat and the patches can be cut out.
We had new potatoes today and have lot’s more to harvest. Our radishes bolted but there are new ones growing and spinach bolted too. We ate all the Pakchoi and Swiss chard is doing well.
There are onions growing, garlic, spring onions a bit slow, all the squash that I nearly forgot about, salad leaves, Basil in the greenhouse and I have dried lot’s of that. There’s Sage, Thyme, Dill has been dried and finished so has Coriander. Celery is growing and I just dry the leaves as the white part will be stringy. The herb celery leaf has gone to seed but I have already dried some. Wild garlic grew very well and it is producing lots of new green shoots. I dried a jar of that too.
I feel very lucky we have all this food grown by us with no chemicals. I have forgotten beetroot. Next year I think I would like to only grow the long type as it can be sliced better. Oh and carrots, forgot about those.
Sounds fantastic. Yes we have other things growing but they are not ready to harvest yet eg. Amaranth, beets,sunchokes, apples etc. A few things seem a bit late this year but that m8ght have been me late with planting due to hospital v8sits etc. You have lots of healthy food there. Enjoy.
Just starting to grow food in the garden, so far tomatoes and lettuce are doing well. I was given two aubergine plants and a chilli plant. One of the aubergine plants has flowered, hoping to get at least one aubergine
Brilliant. I think if the plants are watered enough it is a good season to start growing this year. I never have a lot of luck with aubergine. They are usually small and so I have stopped growing them.