A double shift at the plot today in nice weather. I was a little nervous about the black marks on the bitter melons, but they were fine. The most ripe one had turned almost entirely orange and split open to show its seeds! Time for photos.

I picked a few more tomatoes. The ones in the square bed are completely done now. I picked a few green ones and left others. There was a good number of tomatoes on the main plants and even some more green ones coming.

I picked another handful of Fiesta corn. They’re almost all picked now, but there are a few small ones coming along. The colours on what I picked were so much better than what I’d picked before. Lots of reds and oranges, including one completely red. I suppose that the good colour must just take longer to ripen.

I weeded all along the ledge at last. Not too difficult, just lots of dandelions and a bunch of mean nettles in the compost. I’ve not done the very left end, as there are some big daisies there that I want to dig up.

Today’s harvest was pretty good: corn, tomatoes, warted gourds and the first Jack-be-little, plus another taster apple. There were bigger apples, but they didn’t want to come off. This smaller one came off very easily.

I went back in the afternoon to photograph the bitter melons and meant to get these caterpillars too, but never got around to it. I’m sure they’ve gone now.

I cut down all the sweetcorn stalks that are now completely devoid of cobs, so I can see the wood for the trees. I’m leaving that borage there for the moment to see if I can get some seed from it for Mum.

I’ve pulled up all the dead tomato plants and chopped them up for the compost bin. It’s getting another wonderfully dry layer on top of the grass cuttings. I’ve not dug over this bed yet, but it won’t take long – it’s so dry and powdery!

I made a start on clearing Bed 1 for outdoor gourd photography. I’ve pulled up a couple of borage plants to make some room and since the viper’s bugloss doesn’t have a great deal of flower any more, I might clear out more space for the straw.

A bunch of physalis had self-seeded in Bed 1 around one of the gourds. They popped up not so long ago and managed to survive when I pulled up the gourd. I’ve now moved them to the ledge, as all of a sudden they’ve got flowers and little fruits on them.

Having done the photos of the bitter melons I cut them from the plant, having first checked that more were coming. There are quite a number of reasonable size, plus a large one on the ground.