Help with the harvest!

​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.

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 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.

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​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.