It is ideal to eat your produce straight from the allotment, but inevitably you will end up with excess at times. It can also be great to enjoy your favourite things throughout the year. In addition to experimenting with successional sowing at the allotment, spending time in the kitchen can help to alleviate the classic dilemma of “too much” followed by “too little” of your crops.

Freezing is a fantastic way to preserve your excess, whilst retaining the flavour and vitamins. Some crops can be frozen straight from the plot. Blackberries, bagged into individual portions, can be a useful addition to your freezer, providing a year round supply of ripe berries.

Most vegetables benefit from blanching prior to freezing. Blanching kills enzymes and bacteria and also helps to maintain the colour, flavour and texture of the vegetables. This technique can also help retain vitamin C content.

The technique is easy. For every 1lb of produce you will need 6 pints of boiling water. A couple of minutes would be sufficient for most vegetables. Remove the vegetables from the boiling water, and plunge into cool water, then ice water to cool immediately. Once cool remove from the water and dry and place in portion size freezer bags.