Tips for filling the hunger gap!

[vicky]

I'm also looking forward to clearing the freezer
And I have some fabulous, alien chicory plants that should provide me with chicons for a few months. They do require quite a lot of planning - sowing seeds, transplanting, digging up in the autumn and bringing indoors as required but opening the cupboard under the sink and seeing these weird edible creatures is fun!

[planetologist]

what plans you have made this year to ensure that you're not without homegrown goodies in May?

If you leave the plans until this year for this year's hungry gap, then you'll have ... a hungry gap. In May I'll mostly be eating perennials and biennials that I sowed last year, plus the last winter vegetables. The thing about winter vegetables I think is not to start eating them too soon. That is, prioritise eating the abundant supply of half hardy plants in October and November, and in a mild winter like this in December and January as well, so that there are still some left in May.

[shona_b]

On the plot I still have red cabbage, spring cabbage, leeks, kale and perpetual spinach to pick and the PSB should be ready anytime soon. In the freezer I still have beans (broad, french & runner), cauliflower and some carrots that we couldn't eat fresh. I also grow some potatoes in bags in the greenhouse so there are some small specimens to add to salads to supplement the last bag of stored maincrop. I still have strings of onions (red and white) in the shed but I am down to the last string of dried chillis. The dried beans are all still fine for adding to soups and casseroles and the winter pea shoots add a lovely topping to pasta and rissotto. The winter lettuces were a bit disappointing but we still got some nice leaves right up until the really cold snap. I used the last of the stored squashes to make a soup last night so will make a note to grow a few more this year! so in short - what gap?