Did I fall into a coma and wake up in Autumn?

There was a heavy mist over the lottie today and the temperature felt decidely cool. I don't think it will be long before the frosts move in. The cobwebs though were glittering with the heavy moisture and looked like strings of pearls and diamonds:













Talking of spiders, Loki, the naughty kitten, woke me up last night by running up and down the top of the bed. Finally I turned on the light to see what had him so excited. His tail was flicking really fast and he was totally engrossed on the wall - a quick glance revealed nothing and finally exasperated that he wouldn't settle I took a closer look and discovered the most enormous black house spider which chose that moment to loose its footing and plumet back towards the bed - much to the kitten's joy. OH was swiftly summoned to dispatch with the unwelcome visitor - much to the kitten's dismay. He would have been beside himself at the lottie today:

My broadbeans have suddenly developed rust - they look pretty bad. I've picked all of the pods and will pull up the plants next week. My compost book says not to put rust infected plants onto the compost heap, so they'll go onto my winter bonfire.



tra-daaaa ... a little fanfare please, finally the tomatoes are starting to ripen. I picked enough today to make tomato sauce:



This is a Roma:


this is Tigrella:


My Gypsy are nearly ready for harvesting:


Today I picked 99,000 courgettes - one of them is football sized !! When I got home I turned 5 of them into courgette sauce for pasta. Two of the smaller ones will be made into courgette pizza for tea one night next week, but goodness knows what I'll do with the rest of them.

My peas are making a bit of progress:



Here are my only two Acorn squash .. I'm holding my breath that we get some sunshine and they grow and ripen before the frosts arrive:



Both lots of sweetcorn are in full flower, but I'm worried there is not enough time left in the season for them to mature:



The Blackberries have been so good that I can't resist any longer - I've picked loads today and I'm going to make Blackberry Jelly. This is my fabulous Blackberry, Almond & Meringue cake - its was absolutely delicious ... so good, I made it twice in 10 days, dead easy to make too:



Tonight I've made Rhubarb & Orange Slump. Its very nice, but boy is it sharp - rhubarb always leaves my teeth feeling like they've been coated in acid.

The artichokes are in full flower