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# The Late-August Harvest Flood: Apple Crumble, Jam, and Realistic Scale Math
- URL: https://after-hours-allotment.ghost.io/late-august-allotment-update-36kg-harvest-tracker/
- Published: 2026-08-25T16:05:04.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T14:19:57.000Z
- Description: Harvesting is officially in full flow. The tomatoes are coming thick and fast, the French beans are producing daily, and my blackberry bush has been yielding punnet after punnet.
- Author: Sam Bailey

Harvesting is officially in full flow. If you’ve stepped onto the plot in the last fortnight, you’ll know that late August is less about delicate care and more about pure, relentless hauling.

The tomatoes are coming thick and fast, the French beans are producing daily, and my blackberry bush has been yielding punnet after punnet.

We even harvested the three massive apples from our tree this week. Combined with a fresh basket of blackberries, they were immediately processed into a classic late-summer apple and blackberry crumble. Between baking, jam-making, and roasting trays of tomatoes and tromboncino with fresh oregano, the kitchen has smelled incredible all week.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e7/cc/e7cc17a5-f252-40bb-acf5-644a57939618/content/images/2026/08/e92fb5a9-66e8-4cfa-b723-c93e8787c733.jpg)

## The Scale Check: Facing Up to the 100kg Target

With the recent flood of soft fruit, beans, and salad crops, the official harvest tracker has crossed another big milestone:

```
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|               📊 OFFICIAL HARVEST TRACKER 📊               |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|     STATUS:    |   CURRENT WEIGHT HARVESTED:                |
+----------------+--------------------------------------------+
|  LATE AUGUST   |              35.850 KG 🎉                   |
|                | (Just shy of 36kg!)                        |
+----------------+--------------------------------------------+
|  TARGET:       |   REMAINING:                               |
|   100.000 KG   |    64.150 KG                               |
+----------------+--------------------------------------------+

```

Crossing nearly **36kg** feels great, but I’m also having an honest check-in with myself about the numbers.

Sitting at roughly 36% of our 100kg target at the end of August means we have a massive mountain to climb in autumn. Am I actually going to hit 100kg this year? Truthfully... it’s looking like a steep stretch. But the real question is whether we can beat our previous personal bests—and that’s where the maincrop heavyweights come in.

## The Autumn Heavyweights Waiting in the Wings

While soft fruit and beans fill baskets quickly, they don't move the needle on the scales quite like maincrops.

Looking around the beds right now, my big hopes for closing the gap sit with the squash and pumpkins. As you can see from the plot, we have some fantastic round golden squashes currently fattening up on the vines, supported by a tile to keep them clear of wet soil.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e7/cc/e7cc17a5-f252-40bb-acf5-644a57939618/content/images/2026/08/384029a2-2d7d-46e8-b95e-11841e659300.jpg)

Once those squashes, maincrop potatoes, and remaining root crops are lifted and weighed in September and October, we’ll see a massive upward spike on the tracker.

And things might take even more of an upturn once I have [sown and planted out more crops in September](https://after-hours-allotment.ghost.io/what-to-sow-in-september-allotment/).

## 3 Quick Wins on the Plot Right Now

1. **Kitchen Preserving:** Turning blackberries and apples into jams and freezer crumbles keeps the harvest working for us long after summer ends.
2. **Roasting Trays:** The easiest way to deal with a tomato and courgette glut: chop them into a big roasting tin with fresh oregano and olive oil, roast down, and blend into rich pasta sauces.
3. **Companion Sunflowers:** The deep orange-brown sunflowers next to the crops haven't just looked brilliant—they've done a stellar job pulling pollinators straight into the bean and squash flowers.

*Are you currently drowning in tomatoes and blackberries, or are you staring down your own seasonal harvest targets? Let me know how your late-August scales are looking in the comments!*