Progress Report

well, we had a good day at the lottie on Saturday, despite mum's sandals (!) We harvested all of the butternut squashes, turks turbans, patty pans (only 3 from 8 plants - where did they all go ??) and pumpkins. They are now all sat in the potting shed drying / curing. The pumpkins won't win any competitions, but I'm very pleased with them. I think I'll give some to one of the schools that we support through work - maybe they can raise some money through a guess the weight compeitition, or perhaps make use of them in the kitchen.

The butternuts look brilliant, shall definitely grow them again next year.





Cleared out most of the potting shed, as everything looks so tired. Kept a couple of tomatoes that look as if they might have a last gasp and the pepper that I think has finished, but I can't bear to throw it out just yet ... and lookie, see what I found amongst the foliage:

I know they're very small, but they're mine ! Here is the one that my folks grew (from a plant I gave to them), it's huge and looks lovely. Shall make a curry with them I think.

The outdoor tomatoes looked absolutely terrible and have really suffered with all of the rain, so they've now gone to the make-shift compost heap.

We managed to dig over 3 beds, didn't take much effort really, as I have paths down either side, so never need to walk on the surface, hence its really light and uncompacted. Surprisingly there were not too many weeds either, I'm quite pleased with how I've managed to keep on top of everything in my first season. The beds look fabulous now - have a strange fetish for freshly dug earth, it looks so lovely.

I planted 6 bulbs of purple wight, which have taken nearly a whole bed and Mike planted the Japanese onions. Suspect his rows will be a lot straighter than mine !

Mum cleared the path (when I first took over the alloment, we didn't even realise there was a path there !) and planted my free daffodil bulbs down the side of the herb path, which should look lovely against the blue bench in the spring.

I still need to lift the remaining Desiree, I've got my fingers crossed that they haven't suffered too much from slugs, but the lottie has definitely been invaded. They've had practically all of the carrots - just empty orange shells left ! Next year I shall plant my carrots into a container, maybe a wallpaper trough, where the slugs can't reach them.

Think its probably time to have a peek at the sweet potatoes, the foliage is very impressive, but its impossible to tell whether there is anything under there.