We’ve had some properly cold days recently, with frosty mornings. I took a log and my bag of pine needles down to the plot and it was nice and easy to walk down the frozen path. The gate was frozen shut, but only needed a shove. The shed door unlocked easily, but had sunk enough that the door mat wouldn’t let it open, so I had to peel it off the frozen ground to make room to get in, dump the pine needles and grab the bird food. I fed the birds and put a couple of my water coconuts into the sun to thaw.

The pond is frozen over and it looks like the water level is down a bit. I’m hoping there’s no damage causing this. The edges of the ice were thawing and it looks like there are little gaps where air and creatures can get in as needed. A paddlestone has slid in, so that’ll have to be found in the spring.

A displaced log turned out to be frozen to the ground, so I couldn’t tidy it up. The hellebore is coming back very slowly, so I might get to see it again. In Bed 3 a few bulbs are coming up. Outside the bed there’s a frozen molehill, but it’s the only one in the plot.

The fern bed was completely frozen, with frost-covered logs. It might be a while before I can start work there seeing as the sun doesn’t hit it at the moment.

Suzy gave me 10 English bluebell bulbs for Christmas, which I planted today. I have 3 pots of 2 and a larger pot with 4 crammed in. They’re sat outside the back door to try and discourage the birds from pecking at the compost. They’re intended for the fern bed, so assuming they come up ok,  they’ll be moved there later in the year.

The ferns are an IOU Christmas present and meanwhile the end of the garage is full of bark, bags of oak leaves from Normandy, various logs I keep picking up (or being given!) and a bag of pine needles to dig into the fern bed.

I potted up the calendulas I had tidied yesterday, but ending up putting a couple of them straight onto the compost heap. So I have a few calendula and a random foxglove in pots behind the shed. We’ll see how well they survive and then where I’ll put them next year …

I emptied Bed 11 and used up the last of the coffee on it. Mum covered Beds 1, 8 (which got the dregs of a compost bag) and 11 – and with that, everything is covered. Beds 1 and 11 weren’t dressed, just covered.

Meanwhile I moved all the collected logs to the trellis / fern bed. I’ve not had a good chance to clear it like I planned, so the logs can kill whatever they want, and any bugs that choose to shelter over winter won’t move far next year. A few big logs will be boundary edgers, but the ground is too wet at the moment for wandering about trying to work out where and stepping into the beds.

Something had kicked out a load of compost between the bin and the shed, which I’ve scraped out quite well and gained a full bucket of compost, which is now sheltering in the shed. I refilled the bait station and tidied up the front of the bin, blocking the front gap as a deterrent, though it’s still easy enough to get in at the other end.

The allotment and the pond are now closed for winter. The forget-me-not has rafted nicely in the pond, so if anything wants to hide in it or use it, it’s there ready.  

As usual, I changed the coconut for the robin (though I now have a shy one that I barely see). I tidied up the old strings and tied them to the back fence by the leaf bins, so the fibres can be pulled at for nesting as needed.

I’d ordered some wood anemone rhizomes from eBay and planted them all in the woodland bed. It’ll be interesting to see if they come up and spread at all. I tidied the bed a little, but left all the lovely leaf litter and added some more logs from the ones waiting to be placed. The hellebore hasn’t grown much after its leaf was broken off. Maybe with less bird activity over the next few weeks it’ll have a chance to recover.

I trimmed the calendulas, taking off all the long, floppy branches and leaving them as much neater plants.

The sun was setting by the time I left, but then I went to the rec in the semi-dark to pick up pine needles that had dropped from the trees. I might go back and pick up the deader ones, rather than just the fresher branches, but I didn’t dare scrape about doing that in the dark.

There’s lots of rain coming this weekend so we harvested the oca today. It would have been a bit easier in drier soil, but it was a two-person job. Tubers are hard work whatever their size.

All the mushy tops have gone straight onto the compost heap, along with the tiny tubers. Hopefully they’ll disintegrate before they become food for rats. Something had dug out a load of compost against the shed. I’d better refill the bait station in case it’s a rat, though other (good) things can hibernate in compost heaps too.

I decided to take the verbena out after all. It’s not easy to transplant, so I’ll deal with moving any in the spring. I just near to clear and coffee this bed and cover it. I think it’s got enough compost for now.

The harvest was pretty good, not too many big ones, but I think I’ve got a good pile to eat, and plenty to save for replanting and sharing. The weight of what I’ve kept is 3.142kg, split into a couple of bowls of larger ones and a bowl of smaller ones.

We took all the logs I’d gathered down to the allotment this morning. They’re on Bed 1 for now; I’ll be using some in the trellis/fern bed when it’s been cleared. Some will be forming a log pile somewhere.

Something had been nosing about in the allotment. Moss had been scraped away from some beds and there had been scrabbling about under the apple tree. The wind we’ve had had blown oak leaves from the rec into the pond, and had blown the plastic off Bed 7, but everything else was fine. The frosts have well and truly killed the oca tops now.

I harvested all the carrots. A few were a bit soft, but most were fine and I had a heavy basketful to take home. That bed is now empty.

I put coffee on Beds 5, 6 and 8. Bed 5 is a little low on compost, but the other two don’t really need any now. Beds 5 and 6 are now covered.

I’ve made a good start on taking down the everlasting peas at the back. Some more needs to be hauled back over from the other side. I used to cut these stems into smaller pieces, but nowadays I just roll it up and smash it into the compost heap.

I took a few obvious weeds out of the ledge, but I think I’ll just give it a little tidy and leave it until spring. I’ll be better able to see what’s getting to big or not once it’s been through the winter – and the big fleabanes can be homes to plenty of little creatures.

We’ve had a couple of frosts now, so a number of plants had had it when I reached the allotment, including the nasturtiums, yellow annuals and little fuchsias in Bed 3 and the bird seed helianthus. The calendulas were looking a bit sad, but it’s not clear if they’re finished, or will buck up again.

The oca tops had collapsed fairly comprehensively, so now I have to leave the tubers in the ground for a couple of weeks before I lift them.

I had new bulbs to add to Elder Corner. I removed the dead nettle from the woodland bed (turns out it has invasive roots!) and planted 10 snowdrop bulbs there, among the leaf litter.

25 purple crocuses and 25 snake’s head fritillary have gone into Bed 3. There was some weeding to do and I done a first thin of the mat of foxglove seedlings. A few narcissi are already coming up and I only managed to break the top off one, which is pretty good going.

Most of the beds are covered now. Bed 1 is just waiting for the calendulas to finish. Bed 3 is empty, ready for the new stages. Bed 6 has some cornflowers left, but that’s all. The carrots in Bed 8 are suffering a little, so I’ll pull them all up soon.

I continued weeding bed 1 and with cold weather on the way, I took the marigolds out and left only the calendulas. They might survive through the upcoming cold weather, so it might be a case of moving them somewhere. While weeding I discovered that the crows had moved some pebbles from the pond to the corner of the bed. I cleared lots of soil, but the robin kept its distance, just shouting at me from the fence.

Mum had done a wonderfully short mow, so I took the opportunity to try and build up the dip by the water butts. I tipped out most of the reserved mole soil, so I still haven’t actually opened the top soil I bought yet. More soil might go at this point and there’s a patch between the front of Bed 3 and the back of Bed 2 that could possibly do with bringing up a little. I put down a little grass seed, but I can’t imagine it’ll germinate now.

I’ve taken the sunflowers out of Bed 6 and cleared it an amount, but there are still some surviving flowers at the moment.

I added more water to the pond and was pleased to see a non-hibernating diving beetle in there.

The harvest was a couple of carrots, though I had to get rid of a few damaged ones first. I imagine this peeling skin is just serious carrot fly damage.

The grass had grown so long that it was a complete mess. I have now strimmed the edges at last, ready for a good mow. Some of the paths look a bit like punk rockers for the moment. So pleased to have got this job done – I imagine for the last time this year, but it’s still pretty mild. The oca needs to be killed by frost, but that’s not imminent.

I collected a bunch of chunky sticks from the rec and arranged them over the top of the hedgehog house, pinning down a layer of leaves and moss over the roof that’s had holes pecked in it. Hopefully that will stop the birds pulling off too much of the covering.

Bed 7 is now completely done and while I was spreading compost the robin came to see me.

A second one suddenly appeared and they got into quite a fight, leaving the usual one sitting very quietly, often with its eyes shut – until the other one came back and they had another little skirmish. Mine wasn’t interested in any crumbled mealworms while he was sat looking sad, but after a while he perked up a bit and sat in Bed 6 while I pulled up dead plants. He let us be incredibly close to him.