Thursday, 29th September
The plan today was to start preparing for winter. I wanted to empty the oldest leaf mould bin so I have space for this year's leaves so I had to sort out the now empty potato patch ready to spread the leaf mould from the year before last. (After two years the leaves have broken down into a lovely brown crumbly leaf mould and can help our sandy soil retain a bit more moisture.) But before I could spread it I had to smooth out the ridges left after digging out the last of the potatoes.
However, on arrival I found a dead rat on the path halfway down the plot. 

Hopefully it was the one I chased along the track and into a neighbour's plot on my last visit. Presumably someone's rat poison is working as I have not got any set out. Having scooped it up on my spade I decided to dispose of it next to my plum tree as that is where I won't dig it up accidentally and where it can do some good for the tree.

​That done I had to catch up with putting the bags of last Autumn's leaves into the other leaf mould bin. That meant I could get at the two year old leaf mould and open up the wire mesh enclosure as in the photo.

​As can be seen in the photo, dusk was imminent, so I left actually spreading the leaf mould until next time and got on with harvesting. I got lots of raspberries as the plants I inherited have started cropping just as the bought in plants are going over. The runner beans seen to have stopped, not surprising given the cooler nights. The climbing French beans still had quite a few beans to pick but the quality is suffering. However the dwarf French beans still gave me a good crop of lovely tender beans.
I was also able to cut a clutch of yellow courgettes and one round courgette. I found two vegetable spaghetti squashes that had broken free of the vine.
I chose to pull up the largest fennel as I can't wait to taste my first homegrown as I love the mild aniseed flavour.

Thursday 22 September
Today after lunch I brought down a dustbin and bags full of garden waste from my neighbours for my compost bin. The current bin was already full but fortunately the extension frames on the next-door bin were no longer needed as the contents had settled lower down. It took only a short time to relocate them to the current bin and then I was able to add the contents of the bags and bin  to the extended enclosure. I took care to mix the grass cuttings with the general plant material and some of my dead leaves.
I then dug out the last of my potatoes, a row of Sarpo Mira. The first plant had a foul smelling sticky mess at the centre of the cluster of potatoes; either the remains of the seed potato or a blighted potato. The smelly clump was carefully dumped in the plastic bag for the haulms and other rubbish for the tip.

Eventually I had dug out all the potatoes in the row (I hope!) Interestingly, while Sarpo Mira normally produces large, sometimes huge potatoes and very few tiny ones, one plant in the middle gave me medium to very small tubers. (See photo.)


​ I just hope I haven't missed too many to give volunteer plants next year amongst my peas and beans!







Then, having got the potatoes out on the surface to dry and harden their skins, I set about harvesting.
One side of the raspberry row gave enough fruit for tea and with dusk gathering I moved on to the Dwarf French beans. The oldest row of plants are still giving me plenty so I left the younger row for next time. The peas had very little on them after the clandestine raider pinched the young half full pods so I gathered the Sugarsnap/mangetout for dinner. There were quite a few yellow courgettes and several green ones that had grown quite big. I also found a lovely cabbage heart had been burrowed into, probably by mice so it went in the compost bin. I quickly picked the last cabbage in the row - before it was raided. I also pulled up a solid red cabbage plant to take home, removing a large amount of dead and dying leaves from the remaining brassicas and dumped them in the compost bin.
My turnips needed thinning again so I pulled half a dozen to take home about the size of a tennis ball - just right. I also found a couple of beetroots just big enough to harvest.
In the gathering gloom the only thing I could see was the runner beans and climbing French beans and there were quite a few of those.

As I left another car followed me but there was one allotmenteer still on site so I unlocked the padlock, scrambling the number so all he had to do was snap it shut as he left. It is no joke trying to set the number to unlock the padlock in the dark by the light of headlamps!

​Sunday 18th September
I had planned to spend Sunday morning getting advice from another allotmenteer on what to do with an old boat I have in store that needs too much TLC for me to cope with. However, having lost the keys to the storage yard, I met him at the allotments to give him some papers he needed and to cancel the visit to see the boat.
That gave me some time to get onto the plot - and get some help from my wife who had come with me this time!
She started by doing the one task she enjoys, harvesting the raspberries - a relief for me as it is a very time consuming job. Meanwhile I picked courgettes, 5 yellow and 3 green. This is the reverse ratio to what I expected as normally I have difficulty getting the yellows to crop!
Then, given I am suffering from a back problem again, I got her to harvest the dwarf French beans while I picked the sugar snap peas which require less bending. I moved on to collecting some lovely succulent runner beans and then started picking the climbing French beans. These are not as tender as the dwarf beans so will try a different cultivar next year. Then before going for coffee and cake at the cafe, I picked a few spears of calabrese for dinner tonight.




After coffee my wife went home and I bought some old tools from the tool sale at the Trading Hut, a couple of different hoes and a rake that I can leave in the shed without worrying. However before putting them away I tried out the Dutch hoe between the leeks to great effect.

 On the advice from Hugh Merritt over coffee, I thinned my fennel even more leaving 6 to 8 inches between plants as I hope to get some really big bulbs to eat.
If there had been time I would have hoed the weeds alongside the fennel as well!
A job for next time!




​The thinnings were big enough to take home and try as baby fennel.




​My son has given me some huge fennel roots which I hope will grow next year to give me leaves to chop and seeds to cook with and sow for bulbs.

​Finally I raked the pile of leaves in front of my plot together after the wind had scattered them around. I also shovelled (or forked to be precise) some leaves onto the compost heap to balance the mass of grass cuttings I added last time and covered the remaining heap with a bit of carpet to protect it.

Wednesday 14th September
It was quite late when I came down to the plot today as it was such a nice day I had spent it at the beach.
I started by digging out the first of my two rows of Sarpo Mira potatoes (having cut off the haulms on the last visit.) while doing this I came across a huge chrysalis.

​Over 2 inches long it dwarfed the 50 pence piece I put beside it. However it wriggled as I picked it up! I have never seen anything that big before and wonder which butterfly/moth it belongs to. Not knowing whether it was a pest species or not I played safe and put it out on the top of my compost heap for some lucky bird to find and eat.
I left the newly dug potatoes on the surface for the skins to harden while I harvested runner beans, dwarf French beans, courgettes and raspberries. By then it was getting dark so I gathered everything up and went home just as the sun was setting.

On the way out there was a family also packing up so I left the padlock open and ready for them to lock the gate as the last out.
​
A lovely end to a lovely day.

Monday 12th September
I arrived at the plot today with a builder's bag of grass and leaves from a neighbour, and some of my own garden and kitchen waste in my trailer. Having emptied the big bag out in front of my plot I discovered that it was mostly leaves, all ready to blow away.  Having emptied the rest of the waste onto the compost bin I covered it with a good layer of leaves - a good 'brown' contribution to the heap to balance the mainly 'green' material I normally add.

​Then once again the emphasis was on harvesting.
The runner beans were lovely and young - apart from the odd ones I had missed last time, and there were once again lots of raspberries despite me having picked then yesterday. I decided to leave the French beans until next time but picked instead a good crop of peas before the mildew got through the pod into the peas.

​I also cut quite a few courgettes, mostly yellow as the green ones seem unusually reticent.
I wanted to add to the few Sarpo Mira potatoes that came out of the ground when I removed the haulms so started digging up the end plant. To my surprise that one plant gave me a huge pile of spuds, despite me throwing away 4 large potatoes that had gone green, as you can see in the photo.

​I then started bagging up the potato haulms using my plastic bag filler, a large semi-rigid plastic sheet which when rolled up and pushed into the bag, unrolls to keep the bag open while I push the rubbish into it. The Sarpo Mira potatoes had so much top growth I filled three large bags!

​I also pulled up and bagged the tomato plants from my glassless greenhouse as they had been badly affected by blight.
Having put those bags in my trailer I sorted into separate bags the rubbish inside the gate into metal, bits of old wood and green waste such as cabbage stalks and raspberry canes. Now it is all nice and tidy.

​However by the time I had finished the tip was closed so I would have to leave dumping the rubbish until the morning.

Thursday September 1
Knowing that there would be a great deal of harvesting, I limited what work I set out to do on my visit. A late arrival at nearly 11 o'clock meant it was already warm but I set about cutting back the old canes on my summer raspberries. I also cut down the thinnest new canes leaving just the strongest. The crop this year was a bit sparse as it is the first crop since they were transplanted from the other end of the plot. However, the plants were old and growing wild before so if they don't crop well next year I shall be looking to replace them.
I now need to put in a wire along the row and tie the new canes in - before the wind damages them.
​
Afterwards I used a draw hoe to make a trench between the runner bean plants as they were showing signs that they were not getting enough water probably because they are next to my Crab Apple tree. I had watered them last time but the water ran out into the potatoes next to them.

Then I started harvesting. Runner beans are cropping well now, both red flowered, Firestorm, and white flowered, Moonlight. I read that both are crossed with French beans which explains why they are supposed to be very tender, they certainly are tasty.

The climbing French beans, Cobra, on the other hand have been disappointing. They have been huge and rather tough so far, so I was pleasantly surprised to find some lovely young pods which I harvested. However, the dwarf French beans, Safari, also had to be picked and there was plenty of them.

I then turned my attention to the fruit. The early autumn raspberries, Polka, are cropping nicely giving large succulent berries and there were quite a few strawberries from my perpetual Mara De Bois.

There were also a few blackberries to pick. This is the first pickings from either of my blackberry plants but both are spreading out all across the plot and into nearby crops. I have already bought posts and plan to train them on wires along the boundary.

​The calabrese had several heads that were beginning to flower so I cut them. As well as this there were a couple of rather large green courgettes and several of my favourite yellow courgettes. Quite a haul to take home though I did remember to water the seeds as well as the tomatoes and the runner beans before I left.