We’ve had quite a lot of rain recently and so the ground was quite squelchy. Rather than doing any digging or great weeding, I went around the plot pulling up and cutting down as much as I could.

The elder and the pear are losing their leaves and I raked up a couple of buckets for the compost. The rudbeckia is still offering some autumn colour. Some weeding needs to be done in the front bed, so I didn’t just leave the leaves as mulch.

I pulled up all the marigolds and French beans and moved on to pulling up all the frost-bitten nasturtiums in all the beds. The ones by the trellis were still covered in dew, so were very wet, just like last year. When I later went for new gloves, I found that my glove tin had been used by a spider, and was also hosting a caterpillar.

I pulled up the runner beans, trying not to stand on the carrots. I’ve pulled down the sweet pea and the final piece of netting. So this be is just weeds and carrots now.

A Red Admiral sat on the pile of compost sacks for a long time, basking in the sun for the while it was out.

I pulled up the yin yang beans and took down the netting. I saved a few more bean pods for drying, but it seems that the ones that dried in the warmer, drier weather seem to have been better for getting healthy beans to dry.

I cleared out several old borage plants and put them on the compost heap. That might mean borage for ever in the compost, but I didn’t want to drag the plants up the path to the car. And there’s not much room in the shed for bags of weeds at the moment.

I dug up the roots of the bitter melons. The water level was only a few inches down, so there was some squelching and sloppy mud. Better weeding and digging over will simply have to wait for drier times. Hopefully that might line up with my birthday so I can do some gardening then.

I cut down lots of verbenas, but not all. I’m taking them right down to the bottom this year, or perhaps to new growth just above, if there is any. I’ve taken down two of the everlasting peas, though they weren’t particularly dry. They too have a pile of new growth at the bottom, so who knows what they’re up to.

The apple tree is pretty huge and leaning. It’s shot out about 12″ from its last cut. It’s going to get a harsher cut this winter. Maybe I can get it back under control by reducing the branches by about ⅓.

I picked another basket full of apples. They’re probably not the best; some were quite small. There are still some on the tree, but only a handful.