Edible Garden in September

September harvest

The above photo shows a typical September harvest from our allotment: kohlrabi, spring onions, Asian radishes, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, beets, beans and herbs.
September harvests are still bountiful – the absence of frost so far means that even frost tender plants such as zucchini and basil are still producing.

yellow zucchiniwinter squash

But because as the end of the month approaches, the probability of frost increases, we have already brought in our winter squashes. The variety “Rugosa Violina Gioia” has been most productive, bur our harvest is still rather modest this year.
eggplant

We have also finally picked some ripe eggplants. If I were behaving rationally, I probably would not grow them at all because they need more heat than a typical Dutch summer will provide. They’re quite a lot of trouble for a a small harvest but I guess I like the challenge. My husband on the other hand, is all for growing more hot peppers instead. Chillies perform somewhat better around here and he likes his food spicy and wants to make lots of chilli vodka. We’ll negotiate next year 🙂

allotment septemberspinach seedlings

This month we have also made the last sowings. At the beginning of the month, I sowed spinach, which will hopefully survive the winter under the protection of fleece. And last week I sowed hardy greens in the cold frame: mustards “Green in the Snow”, “Osaka Purple”, “Pink Lettucy” and “Golden Streaks”. I also replanted some self-sown chervil and corn salad into the cold frame. Corn salad especially is hardy enough to survive outside, but the plants will be more productive and better quality under the protection of the cold frame. Soon we will cover the frame with old windows.

cold frame

In our forest garden, we are picking autumn raspberries, grapes and apples. Lots of apples. We have many kilos stored away in the cellar, not only from our garden but also from friends who had more apples than they could use and invited me to come pick some. But as we currently eat at least a kilo of apples a day, I am confident that no apples will be wasted in our household. And there’s always apple cake, baked apples, apple tart, apple butter… Plus my daughter keeps bugging me to make an apple strudel.

apple harvestautumn raspberries and blackberries
How’s your garden doing?

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