Just a quick visit to check on the plot as I’ve been away for a while thanks to being under the weather and having things to do. A number of plum tomatoes had managed to start turning red although the plants are starting to look a bit blight-infected.

Even though the runner bean vines have given up there was a little cluster of beautifully flat pods.

A fairly laidback visit to the plot after the exertions of the Berlin trip. Suddenly everything looks a good bit more autumnal and those jobs can probably kick in now. The runner beans are just about done and look rather ragged, so I’ll cut those down soon. Meanwhile, the beds are filling up with self-sown seedlings in what must be the wrong season, and some of the lobelia in the boundary beds are suddenly coming back to life and are little green mounds.

I cut the last gourds and cleared up most of that vine. There weren’t as many tomatoes to pick as I’d thought there would be, so we’ve evidently moved onto less sunny times. With the amount of fruit left to come, we might have to be thinking of green chutney ideas. I’m also a bit suspicious of one of the beefsteak plants, as it looks a bit unwell. I cut off the rubbish bits and took them home for the council bin.

The wind was low enough today that I could get a photo of the zinnias. Five plants too close together as the seedlings were rubbish and eventually I just stuffed them in the kalette / potato bed. Then suddenly they just took off.

The carrots nearly got left behind. I’d done my photo, packed everything into the car and was doing my last photo rounds when I found them hiding on the grass behind the veg bed. These raised beds hide everything so well!

Not much to do today, but I mowed the plot again as the grass had sprung up. I also did a few bits of deadheading. It’s still not really time to got mad cutting everything down though. The flowerbeds are absolutely teeming with little tiny green seedlings, which I guess is nigella coming back at an odd time.

My one remaining pumpkin has begun to swell. No telling how big it will manage to get at this point. I can’t imagine it’ll get anywhere near ripe. The kalettes are possibly just starting to swell, but it’s really not obvious.

The Ferline tomatoes have suddenly come up with a new round of tomatoes, so they may not be done. They are also quite a number of new beefsteak tomatoes – and plenty of Romas of course. We picked most of the pears today, and there are a few more left on the tree.

I’ve made an attempt at collecting some lobelia seed, basically just cutting off the tops of the plants and putting them in a paper bag. The seeds are so small that I’ll probably end up sowing them as mulch still in their seed casings. They’ve possibly already self-sown in Bed 9 as there are lots of seedlings popping up already. Various morning glory seedlings have popped up too.

As well as the rotten windfalls, there were a number of rotten apples on the tree. It turns out that this is brown rot, which spreads and which shouldn’t be composted. So I knocked off as many as I could and raked up a heavy bucket full of rotten fruit. While I was under the tree I found that a currant of some sort has self-sown under there. I’m hoping that I might be able to pull it up and plant it somewhere to see what it does.

The big sunflower has turned down and the dip has filled with water. I topped it up for the birds in case they realise how cool it is.

I tackled the mess beside the compost bin and absolutely clear out the nettles, bindweed and big borage plant. The last bag of leaves has been added to the bin and I gave it the last of the collected rainwater moisten it after our hot weather. I’m not sure if there’ll be any at the bottom ready for this year.

The field vole had taken a real liberty and made a tunnel all along my fence line, meaning that the tiles on top have caved in. That tunnel is now full of pieces of edging and soil, so it will have its work cut out doing that again. Something has also been digging a hole round the corner and making a mess, but clearing up all that and getting rid of the edging will be a job for another day.

I’ve pulled up the volunteer plants too – a gourd hanging on the back of the compost heap and a huge tomato vine that’s suddenly appeared, bearing fruit. But sorry, it’s time to tidy up this .

Today was grass day. Having done a strim and weed of the ground yesterday, today I gave it a number 1 mow. I then resowed the grass seed all over. The patchiness of the main path is making it feel lumpy to walk on, making it a new kind of nuisance (but no comparison to before). Thanks to the rain, I noticed a few little patches where seed was now finally germinating having been sown a long time ago. So with some reasonable temperatures and the odd drop of rain, hopefully this new sowing will be effective.

We’ve had lots of lovely downpours this week. I had one white and two orange buckets out and gathered about 9 litres of water.

There were lots of tomatoes to harvest and I was able to rescue most beefsteaks before they actually split. There were only a few Ferline, so the main splitters have finished.

The shed tomato plant and the much smaller volunteer in Bed 11 now have fruit, so maybe I’ll get a few more Ferline at the end of the season. With regard to other volunteers, it’s now confirmed that the vine at the back of the compost heap is yet another gourd, not a magical pumpkin.

I gave the grass edges their very first strim, which worked really well. The edge has only built up at one point on Bed 9, where ants have settled. I smashed up the nest, but I imagine they rebuilt pretty quickly. I then did a full bucket of weeding in the grass. Lots of the weeds were really easy to dig up in the softened earth and some of them had spread over a huge area. Not everything is cleared, but it’s a huge improvement. The strip by the trellis is looking like a nice bit of lawn now.

First job today was a harvest. Lots more tomatoes were ready, but only a few of the Ferlines are yet to come. Even after picking the Romas, the bushes are now quite lit up with orange tomatoes in comparison to last week.

I think I’ve pulled up all the nigella now and there are seeds all over the soil and the grass, so I guess they’ll be back. I also uncovered a red geum that I bought this year, struggling away near the bear’s breeches.

I’ve harvested all the gourds except for Bed 1 and started clearing away the vines. We’re definitely coming to that slightly frustrating turn of the season where it’s too early to properly cut down and clear up, but lots has turned or finished.

I mowed the grass today and – apart from under the apple tree – I was able to go straight to 1, which made the whole job much faster. I have to do it in a slightly haphazard order, but I’m getting better at doing the paths as long stretches.

I cleared the front bed of much of its rubbish today. It’s another bed that needs more soil and nutrition in it. The allium bulbs aren’t yet letting go of their stalks without pulling the bulbs out of the ground, which isn’t very helpful. The helianthus is now starting to flower, but I don’t have any lower end of season colour to come here. I need to sort that out.

I pulled up the last potatoes today. The one that had one one stalk of green haulm had only just started to grow and there was a barely touched original potato with just a few tiny new potatoes attached. The other potato gave a reasonable collection of potatoes. Oh, and the first pear fell off the tree today.

I focused on clearing up the trellis bed and by the end of the day, all the nigella was gone, brambles were cut back, grass pulled up and toadflax deadheaded / cut back. It looks much better as a result. There are all sorts of little weeds and brambles in the soil, so it needs a turn over and some manure at some point. And then probably fewer toadflax and nigella plants so they don’t take over.

There are loads of plum tomatoes yet to ripen and I’ve now propped up the tresses that had been lying on the ground.

The sunflower seeds are being eaten by something – hopefully a small bird, and not one of the crows coming in where it’s not welcome. So far the apples haven’t been touched. Perhaps if it is a crow eating the sunflower seeds, they’ll leave the apples alone?

I harvested a bunch of gourds where the vine had already died. They’re now curing in the grow house. There are lots more yet to come – not sure yet what I’m going to do with them all.

There was torrential rain last night – loud enough to wake me up – and then more heavy rain followed through the morning. I collected about 3 litres in my buckets at the plot and everything down there finally looked as though it had had a really good drenching.

Lots of the tomatoes have split and no doubt more will now. The worst ones are headed to the compost heap – although actually I left them on Bed 4, so I imagine something will eat them overnight and spread the seed everywhere. More of the beefsteak and plums have ripened and there are lots of the plum tomatoes yet to come. Hopefully they won’t take too long to ripen.