THE GOOD LIFE
Advice for would-be smallholders
The courgette is a treacherous vegetable. Almost overnight, mine seem to morph from petite bombs of sweetness to waterfilled barrage balloons. Turn your back and they double in size – I swear at this time of year I hear the raised beds creaking. My tactic for dealing with them has always been to eat them small and often, although an elderly neighbour of mine used to lean over the fence and complain I was cruelly picking them off “like baby ducklings”. For her, the bigger the better. Personally, I’d rather eat an espadrille than one more stuffed marrow. August is the month of gluts. It’s a compliment really – a sign that all your hard work and love has paid off – but unless you make the most of it, you’ll be plagued with gardener’s guilt. Here are the lessons I’ve learnt over the years when it comes to stemming the flow…
DON’T PLANT TOO MUCH. This is an irritating thing to hear when your vegetable beds are already overflowing, but it’s genuinely the best piece of advice I have been given on the subject. Bear in mind that one courgette plant alone will give you four or five courgettes a week. Similarly, one packet of chard seeds has about 150 seeds in it – even if only half of those take, that’s still 75 plants that will grow. So factor this in when you’re planning your plot.
SHARE THE BOUNTY. If it’s too late and your vegetable beds are already groaning, I’ve found that a neat solution is to form a swap
circle with friends or neighbours. About ten years ago, an informal group of four of us began to swap what we didn’t need and it works pretty well. Now, we agree what we’re going to grow so there’s not much crossover. This year, for example, I’ve avoided potatoes and sweetcorn in favour of trying new things like white celery and sorrel.
HARVEST EARLY. Few things beat eating your own fresh produce, and by enjoying some of your crop in miniature, you can appreciate the flavours at their sweetest. Salad leaves, baby courgettes and ‘micro’ herbs are all delicious if you pluck them just after they’ve sprouted. Doing this also keeps the number of full-grown vegetables under control.
THINK FLORALLY. Just as eating baby vegetables helps to keep the size of your crop down, so does harvesting their flowers. Peas, courgettes, squash, cucumbers, radish, mizuma, rocket, basil, coriander, dill, fennel and many brassicas all have delicious blooms that are packed with flavour and make wonderfully colourful additions to salads, garnishes and many other dishes.
LET SOME GO. It’s virtually impossible to keep on top of everything, so give yourself permission to let some vegetables go to seed. This isn’t a waste – as edible plants bolt, many of them produce beautiful flowers that are hugely beneficial to pollinators. They’ll also produce seeds that you can use for next year.
GO CONTINENTAL. Mediterranean countries are known for their flavourful produce, so it’s no surprise they’re masters of storing it, too. When looking for preserving inspiration, I think of jars of crisp Italian mixed pickles or French beans, salted and bottled. Their traditional recipes also make the most of summer surfeits but also freeze beautifully – vegetarian ragu, peperonata, ribollita, roasted vegetable soups. And, crucially, there’s not a stuffed marrow in sight.