1st - 7th October

1^st October

I’ve lost track of exactly what I’ve done and when but today I picked 1 large and 2 fist sized butternut squashes as well as 4 small courgettes and 1 small red pepper from the allotment. On Tuesday I picked 9 courgettes – still going well late in September! I also picked another decent posy sized bunch of sweet peas. It makes it all the more sad as I could have been picking sweet peas at home were it not for lack of watering while we were away.

At home I have made no progress on clearing away the lilac tree which my wife is in favour of, nor of the purchasing the 3 silver birches, which she is not in favour of! One birch tree would be a good compromise but where can I buy just one? The good priced ones on the internet come in multiple batches and singular trees from nurseries are pricey – and large.

3^rd October

Today was the first autumnal weather day. The Indian summer has gone and rain threatened all day although it merely stayed dull. My 5 year old had a birthday party to go to this afternoon so we had no trips or outings planned which meant I could tackle the job of tidying the shed. Before that I mowed the lawn and then it was the main event of the day. Out came everything, some of it got put in a rubbish sack, then the remainder went in again in a neater manner. All this was achieved with the help of the 2 year old who had a great time ‘painting’ things with a small paintbrush I found. I had time at the end to cut back the fennel and saved some seed heads to harvest the seed, as well as the stems which are partly hollow and will make a good overwintering place for solitary bees. Filled with the satisfaction of a good days’ work, I planned to put white masonry paint on the front wall that divides us from our neighbour as a good background for poppies and/or cornflowers in the front garden next year. I’ll try to make some edging too for a small level raised bed.

 5^th October

The autumnal weather continues, now with light continuous rain reaching heavy at times. So I decided that the butternut squashes weren’t going to ripen anymore let alone grow any larger so I harvested them. I now have 3 large ones and about half a dozen small ones the size of my fist weighing a total of 7.8kgs. I also found a large cauliflower that must have dramatically increased in size whilst my back was turned, 3 small red peppers, so small I think they might be chillies (a few years ago there were reports of nurseries mislabelling chillies as peppers) and 1 small courgette. It won’t be long before all summer vegetables have finished and it will be onto the carrots and leeks then later the sprouts and broccoli.

Another rain-fuelled decision was that I would not be able to paint the wall!

7^th October

Today was our third day of rain and it got heavier than yesterday at times. The gardens definitely need it. My lawn looks worse than at any time in the summer and the vegetables require a really good drink. I just long to get out and cut down that lilac tree, make those raised beds and paint that wall.

Next post: 15th Oct