Dealing with the glut: too much of a good thing
Somewhere in late July it happens. The courgette plant you were worried about in May becomes a factory. The runner beans go from “nearly ready” to a wall of green overnight, and the kitchen table disappears under tomatoes. This is the glut — the most abundant fortnight of the growing year, and the happiest problem you'll ever have.
The trick is to stop treating it as a race to eat everything, and start treating it as the year's one chance to fill the freezer, the shelf and your neighbours' arms. Here's what keeps, what doesn't, and what to do with all of it.
First rule: keep picking anyway
It feels wrong to pick beans you can't eat, but the moment a plant ripens seed it starts winding down. Pick everything as it comes ready — small and often — and courgettes, runner beans and French beans will keep producing for weeks longer. Stop picking, and they stop too. A good trug by the back door makes the little-and-often habit a pleasure rather than a chore.
What keeps, and for how long
- Days on the side:tomatoes (never the fridge — it flattens the flavour), courgettes, cucumbers, beans. Eat-first pile.
- Weeks in a cool spot: onions and garlic once the tops die down, beetroot, carrots in damp sand, the first winter squash as summer turns.
- Months in the freezer: beans (blanched), grated courgette, whole cherry tomatoes, roasted passata, podded peas and broad beans, soft fruit on trays.
The big three, crop by crop
Courgettes.Better at 15cm than 40cm — catch them small. Grate and freeze in meal-sized bags (soups, fritters, cakes); roast the bigger ones into pasta sauce. The one that hid under a leaf and became a marrow? Stuff it, or let it star in chutney. And next year: two plants. Honestly.
Beans.Runner and French beans freeze beautifully (blanch first) and pickle surprisingly well. Leave a few pods of French beans to fatten at the season's end and you get free seed for next spring — the glut paying for next year.
Tomatoes.Cherry ones freeze whole; big ones become roasted passata — halve, roast with garlic and oil, blitz, freeze flat in bags. If you're into preserving proper, a maslin pan turns a table of tomatoes into a shelf of chutney in an afternoon — and the green ones at season's end make the best chutney of all.
Give it away (this is the good bit)
A basket of just-picked veg is the best gift most people get all year. Neighbours, the school gate, the office kitchen, the food bank — gluts are how veg growers make friends. If you're ever away when the wave breaks, the neighbour-waters-and-keeps-the-pickings deal solves two problems at once.
And for next year: a gentler wave
A glut is really a scheduling problem, planned in April and discovered in July. Succession sowing — little and often — spreads the quick crops into a steady trickle, and the harvest planner shows you when everything you've sown will land, so you can see the wave coming while there's still time to stagger it.
Common questions
What can I do with a glut of courgettes?
Pick them small and keep picking — it keeps the plant going. Grate and freeze for winter soups and fritters, roast into sauces, chutney the escapees, and give the rest away. One healthy plant feeds a family.
Can I freeze runner beans?
Yes. Top, tail and slice, blanch for two minutes, cool quickly, and freeze flat on a tray before bagging. They keep their colour and bite for months — your own beans in January.
What should I do with too many tomatoes?
Cherry tomatoes freeze whole with no prep at all. Bigger ones become roasted passata for the freezer, and the green stragglers at season's end make the classic chutney.
How do I avoid a glut next year?
Sow little and often instead of all at once — our succession sowing guide is the cure. For one-plant gluts like courgettes, simply grow fewer plants than you think you need.