Self sufficiency

When I first started working on an allotment - or more correctly, on my three beds on my friend Ali's allotment, I hardly planned to be self sufficient. It was more about the discovery and joy of achieving perhaps 1 successful harvest.

Now that I have a full allotment to myself, and am in the second year of working it, I still didn't set self sufficiency as a goal. But this month it's what I've reached. This is the third week since I cancelled the Abel and Cole mixed fruit and veg box, and replaced it with a fruit only box. 

The photo above is my harvest for this week - which is more than I would have got in the Abel and Cole box in the first place! With careful harvesting, I am hoping to continue providing our own veg until the end of 'summer'. This shouldn't be too much of a problem. I have a very healthly collection of french beans just starting to crop, the small sugar pumpkins and the vegetable spagetti squashes are growing well. The turk's turbans are small, but there are still a few potentials there.

The courgettes and zuchinni have started pumping out produce, and the corn crop is 2/3 feet tall and flowering. The onions are small, and probably won't get much bigger since the foxes stomped on their growth, but they are fine to eat. The swede and beetroot is getting bigger and the beetroot will be ready to harvest soon.

The peas are still cropping, although some of them are starting to wither, and the broccoli and calabrese are starting strongly. I have 2 cauliflowers heading already, and despite the funky shapes at the bottom of the carrots, they are advanced enough for me to harvest a couple every week. The cucumbers are producing strange prickly fruits that the girls like to eat, and the potatoes can be harvested when needed.

The plum tree is now so heavy that the front branches are touching the ground, and the raspberries are producing a small crop which is very sweet. No strawberries from the transplanted runners, but they are looking healthy and have put out their own runners for next year.

So all in all, I am fairly amazed at how well things are going, and despite killing off ALL my leeks before I planted them out (anyone got any plug plants they want to give away??) I am confident I can feed my family with veg for at least a month, and hopefully more.