Mum came down to the plot to pick the rest of the apples. We got another basketful and added some more green plum tomatoes to the harvest.

The main job was to make a start on clearing out the mess at the side of the shed. The edging wood was thrown down there when my renovations started and then at some point this year something went digging in next door’s compost heap and threw loads of soil through the fence on top of all the mess.

We got well down in the morning and propped up all the removed wood behind the shed and in the compost heap. A couple of buckets of earth were removed with more yet to come. But then the rain came down in the afternoon and that was that. It was heavy enough that I’m hoping it will have helped to clean things off and perhaps wash away some of the earth.

Apple time. I cleared up lots of apples that had fallen under the tree. Most were rotten to some extent, but there were also others that I rolled out for the harvest basket. There’s also a self-sown currant bush growing under there among a bunch of weeds.

I picked a basket of fairly good apples and there are some more left on the tree out of my reach. Although I took the harvest photo in sunshine, it was a one shift day as rain stopped play.

The first job was cutting the grass. The main path got a 1, the rest had to put up with a 3 and 2, at which point I needed to direct my energy elsewhere. The little pumpkin had been nibbled and fallen off the vine.

There were a couple more runner beans on the vine, but that will surely be it. The tomatoes definitely have blight now so I’m just doing what I can to gather the fruit and ripen them before they get too infected.

I did a bunch of seed collecting – morning glory and corn cockle. I have some cornflower seed – and there are a few self-sown cornflowers in Bed 7 already – but it’s difficult to get out of the seed heads. So I’ve finally given up on the dead plants in the bed and pulled them up for the council bin, rather than my compost bin. So that bed looks much tidier now.

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.