Preserving the surplus.

The quick crops do not wait for a cool store. When the garden gives more than we can eat fresh, it is time to decide what belongs in the freezer, the dryer or a properly prepared jar.

Sort before you begin. Use firm, clean produce for preserving; eat lightly bruised vegetables promptly and discard anything rotten or mouldy. Work in manageable batches and label each one with its contents and date. A freezer full of mystery green parcels is less useful than it sounds.

Freeze

Wash, trim and blanch most vegetables for the time recommended for that crop. Cool them promptly, drain and pack in portions you will actually use. Beans, peas, broccoli and greens are good candidates.

Dry

A food dehydrator gives more control than leaving vegetables in the sun. Dry herbs, sliced onions, peppers or other suitable crops thoroughly, cool them and seal them in moisture-proof containers. Store them somewhere cool, dry and dark. If a jar shows condensation, the contents need more drying.

Ferment, pickle and can

Use a tested recipe and the right salt or vinegar proportions; do not improvise a shelf-stable jar from a fresh-vegetable recipe. Fermented vegetables can be a fine way to use a glut, but follow a reliable method for the specific crop.

Ordinary low-acid vegetables require a pressure canner and a tested recipe for shelf-stable jars. A boiling-water bath is not a safe substitute. Properly acidified pickles and tomatoes have their own tested methods.

The aim is simple: eat the tender harvest fresh, put the crops that keep into the farm store, and preserve the surplus while it is still worth eating. For potatoes, onions, squash and the storage room itself, read the companion note in The Farm.