Hallowe'en Garlic

In a bid to keep the vampires away I planted some garlic on the eve of Hallowe'en, a week later than last year according to my archives. I've still got plenty of heads left from this season so I broke four up, dibbed holes and put them in. Couldn't be simpler.

Picked another cabbage and gathered up some spuds but not much else eat at the moment. Cut a few bits of purple broccoli but I expect they're quite woody, not sure I'll bother with them next year.

You don't expect strawberries at the end of October but I had a few that the birds and slugs hadn't got too. I really need to sort the strawberry bed out as it's very weedy with loads of runners and new strawberry plants growing all over it.

And not to be out done there were about a dozen raspberries ripe and ready, they're still sweet and juicy despite the plants dying back.

Bean and gone

It's that time of year again, planting my first broad beans. I've put in two double rows, one Aquadulce and the other Masterpiece longpod. It's great to planting again, in the next couple of weeks I'll put some garlic in as well. Along with planting broad beans it was also time to take down the canes that supported the french beans.

The second cabbages are beginning to ball up now as well, it might be new year before I eat any of them but the first cabbages are ready now so I picked one to take home.

The Artichokes always seem to look good at this time of year. Only a couple of months ago I had cut them back to the ground after they had fruited, now they have lush silver green foliage. They will die down as it gets colder and I'll need to put some compost on them over the winter.

There were still a few raspberries left in the autumn sun and surprisingly sweet they are too. Not enough to take home so I ate them freshly picked.

The last courgette

As you can see the cooler nights have finally finished off my last two courgette plants. If you look carefully there's one courgette left at the top. I picked the courgette and then dg up the plants and cleared the ground around them. I bought a few daffodil bulbs and planted them around the plot number sign, they should look pretty come the spring. It'll be time to start planting beans and garlic soon.

Despite the cold I found a strawberry and a handful of raspberries, but I'm pretty sure they'll be the last of the season as well. I cut back some of the raspberry canes, mainly where they were getting in the way. I picked another cabbage and gathered some potatoes and a squash to take home.

The nasturtiums are still in full bloom, I took a dozen flowers to decorate the cobnut squash soup I made for Sunday lunch. The plants won't last long now, my neighbour told me to pick the seeds and pickle them in white vinegar, 'taste better than capers' he told me before adding that i could pick the seeds on his plants too because he doesn't like them.

Purple sprouting pencils

Into October and I've cleared most of the plot for this year. The compost heap is bursting, that's just one nasturtium plant growing around it.

I don't know what's wrong with my broccoli, it looks very pretty and has only just started to sprout but it's hard and woody, like eating a bunch of pencils.

Meanwhile the cabbages are big and plump, which seems a little early but we ate one last night anyway.

Here's my row of parsnips. I won't pick any until after the first frost, the frost is supposed to make the starch in them turn to sugar therefore making them sweeter. You can see the green courgette plant that I still left in, I might get a few more from it yet. The yellow ones had stopped developing and so I pulled them up and put them on the compost.

And here's the view from the other end. The raspberries plants are turning now, I think I'm supposed to cut them right back once they've stopped producing anymore fruit.

Hot beans

It's unseasonably hot in London. The guy at the neighbouring plot said it was 32ºC and had been hotter on Friday. Most things are over for this year now, still getting green courgettes but despite the heat the yellow ones are giving up the ghost. There were a few french beans left that have now dried out, I going to try and keep the seeds to plant next year.

I've put them in a brown paper bag to store them over winter. I hope this stops them being eaten or going mouldy. I've yet again picked a good half a tub of raspberries, they've done so well this year.

My purple sprouting broccoli has flowered. It looks very pretty but you're supposed to eat it before this stage - oh dear. The first cabbages are doing really well, quite a good size and well balled up this year. The seconds are quite as impressive, I bought some more pegs to keep the netting down and make them bird proof, I hope they recover over the winter.

Jumbo courgettes

Cor what a whopper! A week away and the courgettes will play, came back home to two huge great marrows. I don't know what we will do with them? The green plants have many more courgettes to come as well but the yellow ones are giving up for this year.

I also picked my last patty pan squash. The plants had died back so I pulled them out to find this last squash still hanging on. I pulled out the tomato plants as well picking the last four fruit that hadn't got blight.

This year has seen a super abundance of raspberries, varying in shade from bright red to deep purple.

I picked an ice cream tub full of them and will probably put them in the freezer with the other two tubs I already picked.

The purple sprouting broccoli is beginning to sprout! It looks very pretty, we'll have to try it soon.

My cabbages are getting bigger and are also ready to start eating.

I picked most of the cobnut squash before I went away. There were two more barrel shaped squash growing on one plant when I got back. I pulled the other plant up as it had died back only to find another small squash on it.

It's the season for spiders and snails, hard to tell from the picture but this monster was about two inches across and living behind my watering can.

Raspberry ripple

Last year I only picked about a dozen raspberries over the whole season. I was thinking about taking the canes out, they were something already on the plot when I started. I might change my mind now, not a huge crop but enough with more on the way to make it worth while having them.

Some autumnal strawberries are coming through as well. The plants have also sent out loads of runners with new baby plants on the ends. The strawberry patch will be much bigger next year.

I didn't have anymore french beans to pick and their foliage is turning brown but the plants are also in flower again so i guess there will be more beans yet!

A perfectly shaped cobnut squash, not too large but I picked it as it didn't seem to be getting any bigger. There are about six others growing altogether on the two plants.

This is an example of a plant two cobnut squash, a very different shape. It is a much bigger squash probably weighing over 2Kg.

They're quite pretty wen they are young green and stripy. This baby squash is only about 4cm long.

The undercover cabbages are doing fine but predictably the ones I left uncovered had been attacked by the birds, they really like cabbage. I've made a bit of a makeshift cover for them and I hope it'll do the trick.

I picked a few beetroot along with the usual courgettes and also collected a few more heads of garlic to take home. There's still an abundance of new potatoes before I get to the main crop but the tomatoes seem to have a bit of blight so not so many this week.

Finally the view over plot  68, it's been a good season in all and there's still quite a lot to come through the autumn.