Mon 1 Oct 2007
Weather : Wet.
Progress : A quick visit to harvest some Cabbage and Leeks for dinner tonight.

Tue 2 Oct 2007
Weather : Heavily overcast.
Progress : Made a picking of vegetables. Picked the undersized Sweetcorn for freezing then cleared and composted the plants that were finished. Started the winter digging by double digging a trench in plot 3b, removing the large stones in the process. Hoed the fallow areas in plots 1 and 2 as weed seeds are germinating again. Brought home some Hazel nuts from the tree by the allotment gate.

Wed 3 Oct 2007
Weather : Murky morning. Sunny spells later.
Progress : A real autumn day to start with - misty and the leaves on the trees turning yellow. Delivered some fresh horse dung. Also brought the old tin bath back which I had been using at home to store grey water. Did the daily picking. Harvested all the Climbing Beans from plot 1 to be dried and stored as Harricot Beans.

Thu 4 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny and very warm.
Progress : Delivered another carload of stable manure. Did the daily picking - only light today as there is still plenty in the 'fridge. Found a couple of destructive caterpillars, not Cabbage Whites though. These eat a little bit out of every leaf and right down into the heart of the cabbage.

Fri 5 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny and very warm
Progress : Nearly trod on a bay sloworm which was sunbathing in front of my shed. Dug a trench three spits deep down the side of plot 3b to remove any tree roots. As it happens, the only one I found was that which I had already discovered and cut off earlier. My wife brought me a flask of tea on her way to the shops on her bicycle. The tea was welcome together with the sit-down required to drink it.

Sat 6 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny and warm
Progress : A short visit to do the daily pick. The door on my shed is going to need some attention soon as the weatherproofing is getting tattered. I made the door from an old pallet and covered it with plastin binliners. It got torn by brushing against sloe thorns when opened so I covered it with some textured matting normally used as a weed barrier under shingle paving. That has rotted in the sunlight but also had the attention of kids with caterpaults and cats sharpening their claws. Last night the nighthawks had ripped large pieces out.

Mon 8 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : Did the daily pick then cut down the Climbing Bean stems on plot 1. Rattled round with the hoe as the weed seeds are germinating. Had to go back for a second picking as I had forgotten that I would be away tomorrrow.

Tue 9 Oct 2007
Weather : Very wet all day
Progress : No work today - on a day trip to London.

Wed 10 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny spells
Progress : Did the daily picking. Took down the beansticks on plot 1 then weeded through. The allotments are starting to look wintery and bare with the beansticks removed from most of the plots.

Thu 11 Oct 2007
Weather : Foggy start then sunny.
Progress : Delivered some fresh horse dung for the compost. Picked vegetables enough for two days. Dug up a pair of cuddling carrots but they got cooked before I remembered to photograph them. Came back later to mow the grass.

Fri 12 Oct 2007
Weather : Overcast
Progress : Day off

Sat 13 Oct 2007
Weather : Drizzle to start then sunny spells
Progress : Took a barrowload of turf from home to make up the grass path where it has sunk. Harvested the Climbing Beans and Runner Beans for next year's seed. Picked for dinner tonight.

Sun 14 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny
Progress : Took another barrowload of turf from home to make up the grass path. Harvested the Kenya Beans and Dwarf French Beans for next year's seed. Had a major picking of veg for ourselves and also our son and his wife. Last of the Sweetcorn today. Had a chat with some of the Sunday gardeners.

Mon 15 Oct 2007
Weather : Bright start, overcast later
Progress : Cut down and composted the Climbing Beans from plot 3b then took down the sticks and removed the watering funnels and stored them in the shed for next year. Did a daily pick. Busy on the allotments this morning. A bit of dumped rubbish just inside the gate also someone had taken a small amount straw from another allotment and set light to it.

Tue 16 Oct 2007
Weather : Reasonable start, rain later.
Progress : Just a brief visit in the car today to deliver some fresh horse dung and top up the compost with a bagful of garden clearance contributed by my son. Had to negotiate a car parked by the gateway in order to get onto the allotments.

Wed 17 Oct 2007
Weather : Clear sky. Colder.
Progress : Delivered another few bags of fresh horse dung. Had difficulty getting the car onto the allotments due to a car being unsociably parked around the gate by an adjacent householder. Did the daily picking. The remaining Turnips have rotted in the ground. Cut down some more of the Sweetcorn plants and composted them.

Thu 18 Oct 2007
Weather : Overnight frost. Sunny day.
Progress : Hoed around the fallow areas. Started to cut down the Runner Bean stems in plot 3a. Light picking today - just one Cabbage and one Raddish.

Fri 19 Oct 2007
Weather : Cold night. Sunny day.
Progress : No work today.

Sat 20 Oct 2007
Weather : Cold night. Sunny day.
Progress : Did a big pick today. Picked the last of the Courgettes in plot 2c then cut up and composted the plants as the frost has killed them.

Sun 21 Oct 2007
Weather : Overnight frost. Sunny day.
Progress : No work today.

Mon 22 Oct 2007
Weather : Overcast
Progress : Cut down the Runner Bean stems on plot 3a and composted them. Took down the canes and removed the water funnels. Did a bit of selective hoeing. A modest pickin today but found some of the small Beetroot I had left in the ground have come on well so I will use those to make some soup..

Tue 23 Oct 2007
Weather : Overnight frost. Sunny day with cooling breeze.
Progress : Cleared away and composted all the Gourd plants as they have been hit by the frost. Found a couple of Cucumbers which were fit to eat and the first and only Butternut Squash. A light picking of veg for tonight's dinner. Weeded some of the areas which have been cleared. I am starting to compost weeds with seeds in a plastic bag so that they will rot down over the winter. I hadn't thought of doing this until I read it in a Recycle leaflet. Someone on the allotment told me today about an article in the papers last Saturday about forthcoming EU legislation that is going to ban the use of chemical pesticides in public places (e.g. allotments).

Wed 24 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : Took some spare turf from home to make up levels on the grass track alongside my allotment. Weeded where the Beans had been removed from plot 3a and composted them into a bag. Gathered a few vegetables.

Thu 25 Oct 2007
Weather : Damp and overcast.
Progress : Delivered some fresh horse dung for the compost then came back again later with 10 bags of stable manure.

Fri 26 Oct 2007
Weather : Wet.
Progress : A brief visit late in the day for some veg for dinner. Planted a Laurel seedling that I bought at a kiddies table-top sale yesterday. I put the Laurel in the bank to help obscure my shed.

Sat 27 Oct 2007
Weather : Dull.
Progress : Cut down and composted the remainder of the Sweetcorn stems. Found a few cobs which were worth salvaging. Started cropping the last row of Autumn King Carrots which are a good size, quite different from the previous two rows which were small and not very tasty. Todays crop included a pair of cuddling carrots (nearly as intense as some of the scenes in The Tudors on telly).

Sun 28 Oct 2007
Weather : Wet.
Progress : Popped in quickly to pick some veg for dinner.

Mon 29 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : Took up a couple of bags of surplus soil from the garden to make up levels on plot 2d. Cut out the old briars of the Loganberries and tied up the new growth. Cleared the few weeds in Fruit Area 2, forked the ground to loosen the soil and spraed plenty of stable manure.

Tue 30 Oct 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : Delivered some fresh horse dung for the compost. Had an interesting chat with the groundsman who was clearing the overgrown allotments ready for reallocation. He also advised that the proposed improvements to the access track will take place next week and he intends also to reinstate the paths elsewhere where thay have been neglected.

Wed 31 Oct 2007
Weather : Overnight frost. Dull day.
Progress : Bought a good fork from the recycling centre for £1. Delivered some bags of stable manure. Picked a few veg.