Bright and nippy on the allotment on Thursday

Woollen bunnets are now firmly clamped on until the end of April 2025!  However, it was a treat to be able to have our coffee break in the autumnal sunshine.  We sorted through some of the apple buckets, the most wrinkled and scabby for composting, fresher ones bagged up for an apple and white currant jelly experiment.

As the last vestiges of summer retreat, we pulled up the sweet peas which have given us fragrant treats over the last 3 months or so. The squirrel will be sad to see the sweetcorn gone. We cut this up to add fibre to the current excess of grass cuttings in the compost bins.

The blueberry bush has finally finished fruiting but was looking beautiful – glowing red in the autumn sun. We started weeding the mat of weeds from underneath it. The older loganberry shoots were cut back, and new growth tied in.

No sign of green manure yet. Perhaps we left sowing too late? There was some discussion about leaving the weeds but removing the seedheads to provide a protective structure for the soil over winter.
All the tatties are dug now. We won’t have an excess to store this year, yields being significantly down on last year. Today it was Santanta and Pink Fir potatoes– a favourite for its firm flesh, delicious served alongside salad, quiche etc.

We weeded the root veg bed, discovering White Devoy beetroot. Unfortunately, like the Snowball turnips, these haven’t fattened into globes, though the Early Nantes carrots have. What a crazy world we live in!

We lifted a small crop of Dwarf French beans and the last of the runners and raspberries. The brassicas are coming into their own now, another lovely red cabbage and the first of the Brussel sprouts picked. Excitedly, we pulled our first leek!

No one remembered to bring beer, so the slug bars will be dry until next week.

Jobs for next week: weed inside the fruit cage, lift the bean plants: continue harvesting anything that looks appetising and ready