We had a heavy frost during the week which finished off the nasturtiums, they looked like a bowl of old spaghetti left left out in the rain. I pulled them up and put them on the compost heap, a lot of seeds fell off the plants which I didn't bother to collect so hopefully I'll have some self sown some plants next year.
The cabbages didn't seem to mind the cold weather and were also enjoying the low sun this morning, they looked quite beautiful with the light shining through their leaves.
I picked some of the bean pods left and and collected their beans ready to plant next year. I planted some garlic and dug over and weeded other parts of the plot especially the herb bed at the top.
Another plant that seems to enjoy the change of season are the artichokes, they've really grown in the past few weeks, I would have thought that they'd prefer a warmer climate.
The rhubarb is dying back so I've given it a good fork full of manure to feed it through the winter.
A beautiful day so after a good swim and watching the Japanese Grand Prix I decided to make a fleeting visit to the plot. I dug over the old potato patch and had nearly reached the end of the row and was just congratulating myself on not finding any more spuds when three came up in one spade full! Two of them were a bit damaged but the other one is now safe in the shed. I then decided to plant out some broad beans, this year they were my first crop after putting them in back in February but according to the books you can also put them in in the autumn, so here goes nothing! I'll put another row in in February next year and it'll be interesting to compare how well the both crop and when they are ready.
The rocket i threw out of the greenhouse and lettuce when they seemed to have dried up and died are now thriving beside the shed where I left them, surprisingly fresh and lush ready to be eaten, I guess the first frost will see them off.
The nasturtiums are so pretty, the flowers are lot more yellow than they were earlier in the year and the foliage has a blue tint to it. I'll have to grow a few more flowers on the plot next year.
Goodbye courgettes, goodbye tomatoes, goodbye stringy old lettuce and wormy turnips. I've cleared out all the old things that were either over or had out stayed their welcome and then had a good dig. It's good to clear the ground and I can soon start putting in some new things or at least plan for next year. I rather like digging, there's something satisfying in turning the earth, I saw a lot of worms which is good and also a few strange grubs that I think might turn into beetles. My back aches a bit now.
The hollyhock and nasturtiums keep the shed company now all the vegetables are gone. The hollyhock is going to seed, someone asked me if they could take a seed pod off of it, I of course said yes but warned that they self seed everywhere, I'm always pulling them up even the small plants have roots perhaps three time their own height. The nasturtiums don't seem to know that autumn is well on it's way, they looking better than ever, that's just two plants by the shed.
The smoke of many bonfires was drifting across the allotments with a sweet smoky smell of various old plants being incinerated, the sun was behind high cloud but my camera seems to have picked it up as a purple glow in the trees.
I choose what was supposed to be the drier day of the weekend to start tidying the plot. Before I had even finished pulling up the kobocha plants it started to rain, and continued on and off with drizzle for the next couple of hours while I was working. There were three more kabocha to pick of the vines and then I found another small one as pulled them up, I've had fourteen in total.
I also picked the very last of the courgettes, the biggest being no more than about 4 inches long. The plants are still flowering but the courgettes have stopped getting any bigger, these ones have been around for a few weeks and I decided to pick them because if left any longer they may start to rot.
Weeding is very boring but it was satisfying to clear the top of the plot, the drizzle made the soil claggy, it weighed down my boots as I worked. I pulled up the row of fennel, it didn't seem like I was going to get any bulbs to eat and the stems were begining to fall over under their own weight. I forgot to take a picture when I'd finished so this one was only about half way through.
With the fennel removed you can see the artichoke plants in a row just behind the rhubarb. Next I'll have to pull up the remaining courgette plants and get ready for some new planting.
