I did a short visit to the plot after building the desk with Helen, which involved far more gymnastics than expected. I took the bucket of ripped up turf from home and stuffed a number of vole holes with pieces of grass. Let’s see if they help, or if they’re immediately rejected.

The log I’d left out at the front of the apple tree has been attacked by something. One of the ones I moved to the house had been pecked too, probably by the magpies.

I emptied the last tomato bed and chopped up the plants for the garden bin. There were still some red ones, but not enough good ones to be worth saving. The robin finally dared to come quite close and no doubt had a good time after I’d gone.

The pond is finally at flood level. Moss is growing on the bit of soil on the front bank. I need to do something about adding more earth back and getting it seeded with something.

Poppies are coming up on Bed 1, but less so where I’ve manured, so for now at least I can see which part is done. Who knows if that will last until the next time I’m here.

Earth had been dug out by the shed door when I arrived. I put it down to the nuisance vole that’s busy perforating the whole plot. I went to fill the bird seed and found that most of the bag (a new paper Peckish bag that won’t be bought again!) was gone. I lifted it the bag up onto the stool to look at the little scuffed hole in the bag, still not realising how little seed was in the bag (15kg to liftable is a lot). That revealed a small hole in the shed floor, below which was a huge heap of food. I dropped a couple of pieces of bait down there for a start.

Then going to get the bait station revealed that lots of compost had been kicked out all round the compost heap, and there was a really obvious tunnel system at the front of the heap. So I had to clear up all the spillage – and that gave me almost enough for topping Bed 4. Can’t wait for all the weeds in it to kick off!

All the nettles at the side of the shed had to be cleared out, which was just going to be a future job, so I could clear up more kicked out compost and make it less of a pest haven. I loaded the bait station and put it down there. I’ve also put a couple of my plastic tiles down the side of the heap, just in case they act as a deterrent for a while.

Rain was due for tomorrow, so I came back in the afternoon for actual gardening. I cleared up a bit more of Bed 1, pulling up more plants I’d left. I collected some cornflower seed and started to cover the bed with manure.

I still have nursery plants I need to keep alive for the house. I might make Bed 5 the nursery for those to keep them all together.

I cleared Bed 4 and threw out the couple of beetroot that were still holding on, doing nothing.

I weeded what I could of Bed 3, pulling up nigella and any foxglove stems that came easily. I’ve left most of them though, as they’re such good repeating colour. The dock is still going strong, so I just cut it down as far as I could.

I weeded Bed 5 and left the sunflowers and nasturtiums for food and colour. I dug about a little in a vole hole and disturbed a devil’s coachhorse.

I didn’t mean to weed all of Bed 9, but of course I kept going and finished it. All the canes are down, but I’ve left the nasturtiums and whatever little weeds might be underneath them.

Another small Roma harvest. There are lot more green ones, but I’m not sure if they’ll ripen at this point.

I emptied Bed 7 – lots of parsnip seeds everywhere! – and then added manure to all of it.

I weeded all around the plants in Bed 1. I’ve left the nursery plants in place, along with some cornflowers and marigolds that are still giving some colour. There’s also a random calendula that’s in good shape, but not actually flowering. I want to save the bright pink snapdragons for somewhere – plot or home – as they’re still giving magnificent colour.

The small tomatoes are done, but I did a small Roma harvest.

Jay x 2 multiple buzzards

Clearing. Find a couple of onions. 

Left upright verbena and some foxgloves to move. Pulled up squat verbena. 

Strimming plus mend wire. Couple of paths left. 

Manure. Good to do while dry 

I made a start on strimming the very long grass and managed to get around the edges, as well as around Bed 3 and 5. I picked up what loose grass I could for the compost.

I added a few watering cans of water to the pond, which brought it up above the white mark on the liner. I cleared out the blanket weed and most of the duck weed. I just need to trim back some of the forget me not.

I harvested the Cara potatoes today. It was a nice little harvest and Mum sautéed the smallest potatoes, which was a great way to use them. Most of the straw went to the compost bin, bits and pieces were left on the soil to rot, and a bucketful is going to help the planter at the house.

I pulled up lots of dead plants and weeds. I’ve now emptied and dismantled one  wigwam. The sweet peas are still trying to flower and the nasturtiums are all coming back for another go. I forgot that they do this for some autumn colour.

The grass is way too long at the minute. I’m going to have to strim it before attempting to mow it.

The/a robin appeared after a long absence and seemed please with the fact that I had moved some logs from under the apple tree and revealed food. for it. The reserved logs are now on their way to the new house.

Rust has returned to the pear tree, leaving these strange marks on the leaves. I also found a stinkbug nymph, which I’ve only ID’d 4 days later and found that they are a pest and cause damage to tomatoes. I also found that all the many dandelions were smothered in aphids, but the internet says that’s fine if that’s all they were interested in eating.

We delivered the first round of 5 bags of manure to the plot for the rejuvenation. One or two more rounds will definitely be needed. It’s a balance between being effective and not spending too much. Time to pile on the leaves too.

I did a quick harvest of lots of Roma, but I ignored the few small tomatoes. Those shop-bought cherry tomatoes were just tiny. Red Alert is so much better. I picked all the pears but one too, beating the birds to at least some.

The sweetcorn had been decimated, so none for us. The millet was also gone, which was a shame; I rather liked the idea of growing my own bird food. I imagine it’s just bold crows doing all this damage. I might have to do a bit more crop protection now that photography beauty isn’t as necessary.

There was a big harvest today, with lots of tomatoes, some pears, and the remaining onions. The beds are like dustbowls really, so they certainly need feeding. I’m not digging up the potatoes just yet as the haulms haven’t completely died down.

I did a lot of cutting down in Bed 1 and pulled up almost all the corn marigolds. In turn they shed their seeds everywhere, so when they inevitably come up next year, I’ll pull them up or dig them in as green manure.

My millet is coming along nicely, but not ready to harvest yet.

There was a damselfly over the pond for a while. There’s been loads of rain, but it’s still not done much to the earth or the water level in the pond.

There was an amount to harvest this morning: small tomatoes, some larger, and a bunch of Romas too. I picked some more onions; only one had the root plate missing, and one was my prize onion. Only a few are left in Bed 8 now.

The pear tree has lots of fruit, but they’re not quite ready yet. One had fallen, which was a bit yellower and riper-looking. The Cara potatoes have died back a bit, but similarly they’re not quite ready to be harvested yet.

The one sweetcorn cob isn’t ready yet and the same plant has done the weird thing at the top where it tries to grow a cob in the tassel too.

The ground has been tunnelled all over the place by the vole / mole. Along with the need to be scarified, it really needs some sorting.

I cut down some of the nettles by the compost bin, so I could get around the end and pull off some of the bindweed on the frame. This allowed me to spread out the heap of compost somewhat, as I’d been trying to keep the new stuff away from the bindweed.

I did some lupin deadheading and cutting back, pull up bits of runner beans and clumps of nasturtiums, and made a start on demolishing all the corn marigolds. They’ll already have shed so much seed, but at least I know what the seedlings look like now. Next year they’ll just get hoed back in. It looks like a real forest when you’re sat next to it.

We’ve had some rain, but it’s made no difference to the pond water level, which is still below the bird bowl.

Somehow an anise hyssop has kept growing this year, neglected in a pot in Bed 6. Now the trick is to keep it alive – I think it might need to get a bit bigger yet before I let it out into a border.