Autumn has arrived

It's been a month since I last posted on the blog and it's now time for an update. The summer holidays are long gone, I'm back at work, youngest is back at school and eldest has finally returned to University. Peace has descended on our normally quite noisy home. I have been to the allotment regularly during the summer, but never seem to find the time to settle and write a blog.
Mostly, during the summer, we have harvested - and quite a lot at that. The french beans are now over, but were prolific. The runner beans are still producing, although not quite at furiously as earlier. We have had a constant supply of spinach as well as salad and courgettes. The tomatoes got blight before they ripened at all which was disappointing and we did get some sweetcorn before the animals got it. I still can't believe it was badgers because there simply wasn't enough sign of digging under the cage for a badger to have got in or out. It must have been a smaller animal, but which one I'm not sure. The cobs we did eat, however, were delicious! The potatoes are finished but we still have a plentiful supply of onions.

We are still harvesting beetroot, parsnips, turnips, runner beans and spinach. The butternut squash look good (there are 7 ripening as we speak, two of which are huge). We have just begun to eat the cabbage and will be having one tonight. The brussels sprouts are looking good and there is purple sprouting broccoli for the spring. The leeks have got some awful maggot thing and I'm not sure if they are going to survive. They look dreadful at the moment, although I have covered them in derris to see if that would help. I have just sown some lettuce to see if we can get some before winter sets in, and some spring onions. I also have some spring cabbage seedlings waiting to be transplanted in a couple of weeks, as well as my winter onion sets. The raspberries are just about finishing, but have been wonderful and today I eat a handful of strawberries which had appeared.

As far as work is concerned, I have begun to dig over some beds as the become available, trying to dig out as much bindweed as possible. The roots go down as amazing distance, right into the subsoil. I really don't know how to deal with it other than with poison which I really would rather not use. But maybe ...

A friend delivered to us the other day two huge Edwardian french windows which he no longer needed. They are enormously heavy, but think could be turned into a cold frame; a winter job for the tame photographer!