Busy afternoon today.
I went down to the allotment to harvest kale and chard, cleared away the old squash and courgette plants, and then put in some canes to support the brussel sprout plants.
Then back to the garden.
I cut down all the runner bean plants and put them in the compost bin a couple of days ago. I had a final small crop from them before cutting them down.
Now they're gone I can see my greenhouse from the kitchen window!
Into the greenhouse this afternoon to plant some perpetual spinach and chard. I'm hoping that planting them in the greenhouse will encourage them to grow over the winter and give me some crops. The mixed lettuce I planted in there is doing ok.
Lettuce and perpetual spinach.
Rainbow chard.
One of my jobs for the weekend will be washing down the glass in the greenhouse!
Next job was to turn the oldest compost bin into the middle bin on top of the runner bean plants.
Then I cut down the dwarf French bean plants and composted them. There are just four broccoli plants in the bed now. Not sure yet what I'll put in there to replace the beans. I may just mulch it with straw for now.
Staked the early purple sprouting broccoli plants. I just need to go out tomorrow and tie the plants to the canes.
Then finally mulched these two beds with straw. The furthest bed will have spuds in it next year and the closest bed will have garlic in it in the next few days.
I've decided that I'm going to give up my allotment once the crops are finished on it next year. I'm only using about a third of it, and although the soil is good (especially since I've slathered a load of horse muck on there) it doesn't get enough light year round for stuff to grow well. The inconvenience of having to walk down there with tools has played a part in my decision too.
The main reason though, is that I've been genuinely surprised at just how much I can grow in my front and back gardens. So much so that I just don't need the allotment. I've not bought any veg now since June and this is just in the first year of being here.