Friday 30th November
Finally it stopped raining so I got down the plot to carry on working on the new Strawberry bed.
First I collected a couple of barrow-loads of compost from a nearby bed and spread it over the new bed.
I had brought the landscape fabric and, again folding the edges in to form a hem as on the compost bins, I then stapled it over the bed taking care not to stretch it too much.
Then, using the lines in the fabric as a guide, I cut 4 inch slits at one foot intervals down the centre and then down each side lined up with the middle of the spaces between the slits of the centre line. (Not a good description but hopefully you can see the layout in the photo!)

​Then I planted 9 'Mara De Bois' strawberry plants in the first 3 rows, first extending each slit into a cross with my snips - as in the photo.
With the plants in place, I dug out the bulk of the 'Elsanta' strawberries leaving only those that I was unsure of which variety they were. I took them home to sort and prepare for planting next to the 'Mara de Bois'.
To finish I lifted a few leeks, one of which had split and was useless, and 4 small parsnips to take home.

Monday 26th November
Having cut the black plastic I had bought yesterday into 18 inch wide strips, I came to line the strawberry bed frame. My trusty staple gun made everything fairly easy and soon I was smoothing off the soil inside the frame, removing as much of the chickweed as I could.

​Checking over the onions and shallots I realised that one row had been planted double! There were two different sorts of shallot coming up together!
Fortunately none were exactly together so I was able to ease the stronger ones clear and replant them in a new row beyond the other rows of that variety. I hope it doesn't set them back or make them go to seed!
Interestingly the strong wind had blown all the birds away - I didn't see one in the whole of my visit. However, the wind doesn't disturb the moles! There were fresh heaps of soil in the vacant soil next to the shallots so I poked a cane into the biggest with one of my bottle windmills on top - to scare them off with the rattling it makes.

Sunday 25th November
Sunday morning is always something of a social session at the Cabin but, following that and after buying some plastic sheet and landscape fabric for lining and covering, I managed to lift the frame round the strawberry bed without breaking it and unscrew the corners.
That enabled me to cut down the width of the bed to give me space down each side to pick the crops without treading on those next door.
I then harvested chard, black kale, three small parsnips and a couple of leeks. That should keep us going for a day or two.

Monday 19th November
2 panels prepared for last comopst bin - ready for when I get a round 'tuit'. (- around to it!)
Having worked on the compost bins almost exclusively all week I looked at the far end of my plot that is getting more and more weedy. This year's weather hasn't helped my pass and I've had a poor crop so I needed to get rid of the old plants. It took a while to remove and clean the netting of pea tendrils and leaves but I managed to fold each piece into a plastic bag labelled with the size and stored in the greenhouse.

​It remains to get rid of the weeds!
I then returned to compost bin building as I prepared the last two pallets for replacing the last compost bin when I get a round 'tuit' (or around to it!)

Removing the planks from the back and fitting them into the gaps on the front, I removed the blocks and braces to leave a solid panel that will make excellent sides to the bin when I construct it. Just need to find two more pallets/panels!

Sunday 18th November
With a completed new compost bin I had somewhere to empty the contents of the kitchen waste bin from home as well as somewhere to put the heaps of weeds that have collected during its construction. However first I needed to fit a baffle between the bins to stop debris falling down between the bins and rotting the wood.
I then stripped all the old climbing French (flat) beans from the haulms ready to take home as dried beans before pulling up both canes and plants  and, as with the runner beans, slid the haulms off the canes into the new compost bin.
Having tidied away the canes, joining the others in the shed, I harvested some Cavolo Nero taking a last or two from each plant, one from the outside and one from near the centre. I then cut several heads of broccoli to take home with the kale.

Thursday 15th November
Having worked with other committee members to clear some vacant plots ready for new tenants,  I had some time left to work on my plot.
I felt the best thing to do was start using the newly reconstructed compost bin by clearing down my old runner bean haulms. I started by removing all the dried beans from the old plants as I don't really want the seeds sprouting in the compost and we hope to try using them in cooking at home.

​Then I found it easier to pull both plant and cane out of the ground then slide the haulms off the cane into the bin. The loose haulms almost filled the bin but will crush down once more material is added.
I then collected together the canes from the runner beans and, removing the shortened and broken ones, stored them inside the roof of the shed to protect them from the winter weather. The short ones were thrown down in the greenhouse to sort later.
Before going home I emptied my trailer of the bags of leaves I had brought from home, stacking them neatly ready for when I can empty the wire enclosure of the leaves from 2016 and spread the resulting leaf mould on the plot.

Tuesday 13 th November
Having stayed away on Monday afternoon because they forecast rain showers (There were none!) I came down Tuesday morning to try and finish building the desperately needed compost bin.
The first task was to try and straighten up the end panel of the centre bin. I unscrewed the three screws that retained the misaligned front edge. Two had sheared off and I had to use pliers to extract them. I also had to brace the front panel to keep it in place while the contents pushed outward and I manoeuvred the end panel into the correct position. After some struggling I screwed it back in to place with longer screws.

Having shovelled the patch as level as I could I screwed the back and two sides together before realising I would need to set the slabs down under them and they were wider than the bin would be. I managed to wedge the four 2ft by 1ft slabs under the panels along the back before using various slabs to line the front of the bin and installed the front panel.

​​​There was no time to put anything in the bin as by then I was late going home!

Saturday 10th November
Came down to try and complete the assembly of my third compost bin. Before I started it was obvious the wind last night had wrought havoc all over the site. Greenhouse frames and net cages turned over, shed roofs removed, greenhouse panels stoved in and netting blown around.
I was lucky I had only a netting tunnel that had been dislodged and took a moment to re-peg it over the hoops. With help from a young neighbour a couple of net 'poly'-tunnels were returned to their rightful plots, Having been blown onto neighbouring plots. A greenhouse with plastic panels like mine had panels split and one blown in but there was nothing immediate we could do.
Then I returned to the job of completing the compost bin thinking all I needed to do was screw the panels together. However, I soon realized there was more to it.
First I need to add back braces to the edge of two panels to take the corner screws. I also had to dig out and level the ground and line it. The recommendation is 10mm strong square wire netting, small enough to keep rats out but very expensive. (£50 for 6 metres only 90 cm wide at Homebase, Castle Lane.) Instead I plan to lay small (2'×1') slabs with narrow gaps between as I'm assuming worms will find their way through the gaps.
By the time I had levelled the ground it was time to go home leaving the final assembly to my next visit -again!

Thursday 8th November
I actually made 3 visits to the plot this week but spent almost all the time working on the panels for the new replacement compost bin, first rearranging the planks to form a solid surface on one side and then removing the base blocks.

Finally I covered each panel with landscape fabric taking care to fold in the edges, especially the raw edges but even the selvage, and staple them down firmly.
By the end of the week I had four nicely prepared panels ready to construct the actual bin.

​​I did manage to weed one of my brassica tunnels and, at the same time, remove the dead and dying leaves but -

​​I also started lifting a row of tiny carrots which I had sown far too late but hoped they would serve as baby carrots. (They subsequently were found to be riddled with carrot fly larva tunnels and were totally unusable!) I need to use fleece or, better still, Enviromesh next year.

While the carrots were rubbish - the chard thinnings were very tasty!

Saturday 3rd November
I did very little gardening today. Instead I dismantled the now empty second stage (right hand) compost bin. It came apart fairly easily and the bottom edge of each panel was rotted through enough to make them unusable so I stacked them at the front of the plot ready for disposal. The woven landscape fabric covering the panels (to keep the contents, heat and moisture in and the wind out) had done a good job but the edges have shredded out and in future I will need to 'hem' them.
I carefully unscrewed the side panel of the centre bin to straighten it up. I nearly lost it's shape as the compost inside pushed the panels apart but I managed to screw it back together with the side panel vertical and in line!

I managed to clear the space for the renewed bin leaving a smooth patch of level soil.
That done I harvested a Mooli radish, some Swiss Chard and a handful of pea pods from the remaining pea plants.
I then gathered the rubbish that I had collected at the front of the plot into bags and took it down to the tip on the way home.