August has been a very enjoyable month for us. We’ve been merrily harvesting and weeding, and enjoying some lovely weather whilst we’ve been doing it. The month started with us away for the weekend camping, which naturally meant that it rained, and so our garden and allotment got a good watering.
From then on the weather was a bit up and down, some wet and almost autumnal days, but some gloriously sunny days, including the hottest August bank holiday on record! Our biggest regret this month has been not getting more crops sowed, as we still have some unused space at the allotment. But we are very proud of our harvest this month.
A selection of onions that we harvested at the allotment.
We’ve been harvesting runner beans, pea beans, onions, carrots, potatoes, courgettes, tomatoes and squashes. We are particularly proud of our winter squashes. We’ve harvested most of the larger specimens and these are now hardening off on our patio, ready to go into storage for the winter. We’ve still got quite a few squashes that are pretty much ready to harden off, and several immature ones that we’re hoping will grow to usable size yet.
Some of our squashes hardening off on the patio.
Pretty much ready to harvest – another squash at the allotment.
A selection of courgettes from a recent allotment harvest.
One of our favourites – ‘pea beans’ growing at the allotment.
Yesterday the weather was very autumnal – wet and grey. We all ate a late dinner. The kids were at a birthday party and didn’t get home until late, and I had a much slower than usual commute home from work. So we were all very happy to have a warming, nutritious stew in the slow cooker when we got home.
But this was no ordinary stew! This was a Slightly Self-Sufficient goodness-packed powerhouse of organic homegrown nutritious ingredients! Almost every ingredient in it was grown by us. Carrots (two colours), onions and potatoes from the allotment, and rehydrated Martock Field Beans that we grew and dried last year in the garden.
The kids appreciated the homegrown nature of this dinner – especially since they helped to harvest the ingredients. It is with particular fondness that I recall our son harvesting the last of our ‘Red Duke of York’ potatoes for this stew. His face when he uncovered the first one was one of suppressed excitement as he asked me to confirm whether or not he was holding a potato. Upon receiving confirming that it was indeed a potato, his expression changed to a very proud smile.
A ‘Red Duke of York’ potato at the allotment.
So it should perhaps come as no surprise that the kids appreciated the stew – although it still was a little surprising as we all know what kids can be like when it comes to eating dinner – particularly when they’ve not long since returned from a birthday party!
Some of the white carrots that we grew at the allotment. The variety is named ‘Snow White’.
The two colours of carrot in that particular stew were white and yellow. This year is the first that we’ve grown white carrots. We’ve quite liked them, and the kids have certainly been eager to eat them. The variety is named ‘Snow White’. The yellow carrots were the last of the ‘Jaune du Doubs’ seeds from last year. The carrots have done really well at the allotment this year, we just need to get more in to feed us over the winter months.
The contrast in colour between the white (‘Snow White’) and yellow (‘Jaune du Doubs’) carrots that we have been harvesting this month.
The harvesting of our ‘Red Duke of York’ potatoes made for an interesting exercise early in the month. If any given space on our allotment plot is left to its own devices it starts yielding potatoes. So it should have come as no surprise that when we set an area of the plot aside to grow potatoes, the ones we sowed weren’t the only ones to grow. At the end of our first harvest of our first early ‘Red Duke of York’ potatoes, it appeared to be roughly a 3:1 ratio of planted and self-seeded potatoes!
Our first harvest of ‘Red Duke of York’ potatoes, accompanied by their bed fellows – the self-seeded potatoes.
We are really pleased with our squashes this year. As regular readers will know, squashes are the crop that we find most rewarding. This year we’ve grown several different varieties, many of which we haven’t tried before. We’re hoping to harden off and store most of them, so we haven’t actually tried any yet. We’re hoping to start on the small variety ‘Sweet Dumpling’ once we have enough matured, but the larger varieties we hope to store for the autumn and winter months.
A ‘Sweet Dumpling’ squash on out plot at the allotment.
The squashes have really sprawled and started to take over at the allotment. One of the larger plants has even grown into the legumes patch and has started to climb the bean poles! We’re not complaining of course, the more squashes the better.
One of our squash plants climbing the bean poles in the legumes patch at the allotment.
One of our larger squashes from the allotment (with my hand to give some sense of scale).
That just about sums up our growing exploits for the month: a lot of weeding and harvesting and spells where watering wasn’t necessary. We’ve also had a fun month of foraging – mainly blackberries. The kids have really enjoyed blackberry picking this year, and it’s been a great excuse to get them out for long walks. We’ve been busy baking blackberry pies and crumbles and we’ve also frozen a large batch for winter puddings. Check back soon for more updates or follow us on Instagram via the link below.