Autumn Preparation

So far so good. even though we have had some rain, and today was no exception. I thought I wasn't going to be able to plant my onion sets today as I had planned last week. I didn't go to the allotment until three o'clock and as the clocks went back last night, that didn't leave a lot of daylight hours to do much work; however, it was enough to do some useful work. It wasn't suitable digging weather as the ground was far too wet but it was ideal for putting out the onion sets.
Melanie gave me a couple of winter squash from the plants I had given her this summer. My plants failed all together and I only managed to get one small red pumpkin(about cricket ball size) that I roasted a few weeks ago. It was delicious but I had no more. It was really nice to have another couple that I can eat later on as they will store very well.
This week I brought home some lovely broccoli, a very small cauliflower, some rather manky parsnips and some nice leeks and carrots; quite a nice basket of vegetables for this time of year. I still have the wonderful celeriac (courtesy of Melanie) to harvest later on; they seem to be plumping up nicely under the compost I piled up over them last week. It really is amazing how much there is still to harvest so late in the season. The broccoli is still producing, there is some asparagus kale which has not yet produced any spikes and there are still two cabbages on a single plant that produced a large head earlier on. I will need to think about other overwintering vegetables I can put in now. Melanie has sown some spring cabbage which she has promised me; that should be really good. I'd like to put in some peas and possibly some broad beans.
Last week Max did a great job starting to dig out the horseradish bed and I took some pictures of him and of the rest of the plot,showing how much work there is still to do to get it ready for next season. Some of the self-sown nasturtiums are such wonderful colours I had to take some pictures of them and other flowers in bloom at the time too.
Max didn't come this week as it really wasn't suitable weather for digging; I hope he won't lose his enthusiasm for this as it is really going to help me a lot if he finds it interesting. I hope he will come next week when I will need to go earlier as we are going to see the great nephew in the afternoon and I will have to leave to get washed and brushed up before going out.