Stocking up for winter

I've been drying onions, garlic, freezing the broccoli and millions of runner beans, making chutney and sauces with the inevitable glut of courgettes. Its been a very busy few weeks.
My garlic has been really good, I will grow that variety again, it was called 'Isle of Wight' and I had some nice big bulbs, despite not planting it until 13th March. It was the first thing I planted at the allotment. I've even sold some to the local greengrocer.

Also got enough shallots and onions to last for a good while.

The few Fennel plants that survived are now ready to harvest so I'll be planning a recipe for those plants in the next few days. In the photo you can also see the parsnips which have big leaves now, I'll leave them a bit longer though, they are said to taste sweeter after the first frost.

I have harvested a couple of leeks, they are huge, really thick. Though actually the white part is not very deep, I'm not sure whether this is the variety or the fact that I didn't put them deep enough in the soil. But they are delicious and will be cropping those well into the winter.

But the crop I'm most excited about at the moment is my squash. I put in a few plants which have trailed over the plot in different directions. I planted 4 varieties, Hubbard Blue, Crown Prince, Buttercup and Ponca. The best grower was the Hubbard Blue, I've got about 6 squash fruit that have developed one is bigger than rugby ball size now, has turned a grey colour and I think this is ready for harvesting now. The Crown Prince has also grown well and I have about 4 squash fruit on these plants. There is just one Buttercup squash and the Ponca has not done very well either, the fruits are still very small so probably won't be ready in time. I sowed them all undercover at the end of April, potted them on until they were a good size and then planted them out in mid June.

The above pictures were taken at the end of August and they have grown and changed colour a bit since then. I might try harvesting one next week.
The council have dumped another big load of bark chippings at the allotments and I want to make sure I don't miss out on them this time, I was too slow last time. My paths have really suffered this year and have become full of weed. So I cleared the weeds off the top path this week and have topped up the bark chippings. the paths are very deep now but it will compact. I had a willing helper!

It's harvest time, in between the weeding and watering!

So whats been happening at my allotment in July and August since my last allotment post, well I seem to spend all my time up there either weeding or watering (well Ok not this week!) but I'm really starting to harvest my crops in earnest now.
I had a bumper crop of potatoes, the first and second earlies, Vale's Emerald and Charlotte. I've still got a few Charlotte still in there too. My main crop spuds I haven't looked at yet, they are Pink Fir Apple.
I've harvested my garlic which has been a fine crop and also most of my shallots, they are both being dried off at home so that they will store well. My red onions are almost ready to pick too, they have done really well too after a slow start.
My squash plants are really taking off now and spreading across the plot.

 I'm getting masses of courgettes, in fact I've had so many I've sold some to my local greengrocer.

I'm also very proud of my Calabrese and the cabbage which is has been great once I protected them from the pigeons.

The runner beans have just started and again this promises to be a bumper crop.

Its the first time I have grown celeriac and this seems to be growing well.

The leeks are getting big already, they'll be ready before long.

I've got some cucumbers growing though whether they will grow into proper fruit but we'll wait and see.

The flowers on my plot are coming on too, the sunflowers.

Nicandra.

Cerinthe.

One thing I've noticed on the plot is that there is a healthy number of ladybirds and for the first time I'm also seeing lots of lady bird larvae.