You can now see the helianthus by my gate as you come down the path towards the plot. It’s a nice autumnal welcome. I know that there are bits of grass and weeds in among the base of the stems, so I’ll have to work out how to get those out and maybe have some kind of spring/summer plant in there before the stems and flowers come up.

I just had a short morning shift today, so I’ve cut down all the lemon balm and mint in the triangle and chopped up a bit more of the never ending everlasting pea from the back. There’s so much of that, it might be an idea to mow it.

After picking four French beans, I pulled up the plants. That bed is now weeded and the edging is finished.

I’ve also pulled up the two little Cosmos. They looked rather like they’d been frosted, but I’m not aware of any frosts – and the nasturtiums are still fine. I pulled down the big sunflower stalk and sawed it up for my hugel collection.

I’ve pulled down more of the everlasting peas and cut down physostegia for the autumn. The veronica is still standing because it’s half threatening to flower again. The compost bin is very full, but settles a bit each week. I checked the leaf bin and it was quite hot.

I’ve cut the hyssop back to near its base and it’s sprouting along what you’d think was old wood, all very close to the base. So maybe I’ll be able to regrow and reshape it. Remains to be seen what it’s like to dig up and replant. I imagine the root ball is fairly big.

In the afternoon I focused on digging up docks and weeds from Bed 1. It’s more than half done, so that’s a good start. As with the bean bed, there’s a big self-sown verbena that I’m keeping for the moment in case I want to transplant it somewhere.