There were carrot tops and bits of carrot on the doormat when we got to the shed. That led to the discovery that a few carrots were missing and others had been chomped but ultimately left. I found some fresh rat droppings round the back of the shed, so I’ve put the bait station out again, as well as chucking a couple of loose ones down the side of the shed.

I harvested ones that had enough untouched to be trimmed and pulled up a few more too. Hopefully the rat will choose the poison over a carrot in the next week or so. It looked like there was an indentation in the hedgehog house, so I’m hoping that wasn’t the rat.

Mum and I took down the rest of the everlasting peas and I did some more autumn trimming. A lot of the perennials are being left until spring though, which is good for wildlife, but still feels very untidy to me.

After lunch I cut down all the cosmos. They were still flowering an amount, but were in my way with all their mad leaning, and I want to keep the tidying going. They have super fibrous roots which were in danger of taking all the compost with them, so I cut them, making a much smaller root ball. Hopefully what I’ve left behind in the bed will break down over the winter.

First job was to put in all the bulbs. I unintentionally left out a few sparaxis, so I’ll put those in the pots that have ended up by the shed. Bed 3 is now:

20 x Narcissi (Feb-Apr) – left, right, back
10+ x Tete a tete (Feb-Mar) – left, right, back
10 x Hotpants pink/white tulips (late Mar-May) – front left corner triangle
7 x Gavota tulips (Apr) – centre circle
8 x Sunlover tulips (Apr-May) – right and back
20 x Purple Sensation irises (May-Jun) – wider circle
30+ x Sparaxis – Jul-Aug – all over

There are certainly signs of life in the bug house, creepy crawlies and spiders. It may have a renovation next year, but I’m certainly not going to disturb anything right now. A couple of random cerinthe had self-sown in Bed 11 and I’ve moved them to the holes in the bug hotel, which had just grown grass instead of nasturtiums. They’ve self-sown everywhere at home, so hopefully they’ll do the same here.

I hoed up all the poppies in Bed 11 and spread them out over the soil. Then we covered the bed. The aim is for the poppies to turn into green manure and hopefully not be too sludgy.

I raked up the surface of Bed 8 and the open end of Bed 2 and we covered Beds 1 and 8. It’s starting to look a bit more tidied up now as the covers go on.

We cleared the bean netting entirely – except that H rang and put me out of action for 20 minutes. It’ll have to come down next time as it was pretty dark by the time we finished.

In the morning I went to the garden centre to spend some birthday money on bulbs. I also stocked up on plant food that was on offer. Then I found I still have loads in the shed, but it’s not a problem as I’m doing pumpkins next year.

Once the fog had lifted I did a shift in the afternoon. I spread office coffee grounds on beds 1,2 and 8.

I got a hedgehog house yesterday, so I hope it will encourage the hedgehog back into the plot. I tidied up the weeds under the apple tree (and got pinned to the fence by a bramble). The ground it a lovely mix of wood chip, rich soil and dead leaves. Perfect for hedgehog food.

I mixed up a bucket of straw and leaves to put inside and around the house.

I’ve done more trellis tidying and pulled up more morning glory mess. The stuff is going to be all over that bed next year. I wonder if it would like to climb up the planned sweetcorn?

As part of the tidying, I’ve put all the remaining marigolds into Bed 2 as we don’t seem to be in danger of a frost any time soon.

A long weekend for my birthday. In the morning I did lots of pull up weeding. Handfuls of weeds coming up nice and easily from the damp compost. Bed 6 has now been given a bag of compost and covered for winter.

Two bags of manure have gone onto Bed 1. It’s still pretty low, but most compost etc will be added in the spring when I can start getting the car down again. It’s a bit borderline at the moment.

All the fencing has been wound up fairly tightly and is now tucked down the side of the shed in the freshly tidied storage area.

The kalettes are still growing well and the dropping leaves are fine; they help to mature the plant. I had a little dig to look at a parsnip and found one with a reasonable top. No idea how long it is though. There’s a Liz Truss lettuce in the compost bin that doesn’t seem to have suffered at all since being pulled up.

In the afternoon I dug up the yarrow completely. I thought I might leave some of it, but I’ll put the currant in its place and I see if I like that. Some of the bulbs are peeking above the soil. It all turned over beautifully and there was lots of stuff for the birds to find.