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Here I am finishing off the planting and netting of my peas.

I put net round them as the pigeons round here are quite greedy when it comes to succulent greens.

Sometimes I wonder at TV and the way they make the rest of us feel like second class citizens. They should ask one of us to secretly film the reality of allotments.

Well, it’s the end of the season now and most things I had been growing have finally given up for the year.

These runner beans for instance were the last of their kind. I let them grow so I could collect the beans for next years plants.

As you can see there were not many left on the plant. Runner beans are good nitrogenators of the soil. So they will put back more than they use. Next year I will move them to another patch so they can add to the soil there.

I took these picture a little while ago as I let them grow on a bit.

The rest of my day at the plot was spent getting rid of weeds and clearing some of the ground by using weed killer on it. It shouldn’t do any harm to the crops next year.

I noticed that some of my fellow plot holders had bought in piles of manure. One had a huge pile that could have covered the whole plot an inch deep! I thought that was a bit over the top as you really only need to dig in some manure closer the the season. I will get mine from a friend and of course I have the spent hops from the brewery as well. These I will be variously holding on to or digging in as and when I plant. Some vegetables cant be planted with manure as it burns them, so that does need to be dug in ahead of time, but mostly they love a good bit of horse dung to start them off.

I didn’t see anyone at the plot yesterday, so I guess they have all been during the week - lucky them to have the time really. Some of us still have to work 9 to 5.

The winter sprouts are doing well, buds have formed and should be good at Christmas and beyond. Also the parsnips and swede are doing well.

I finally took down my tomatoes and put the last few on the windowsill to ripen. We have had a bumper crop this year and I have frozen quite a bit for later use. I have also been using them for my lunches in the week and in any cooking I do. You cant beat home grown tomatoes for flavour, especially when used with home grown chiilies. Although I didn’t get a bumper crop of those - for obvious reasons - there are still a good few and of course, last years dried crop have lasted as well.

Someone was asking about Borage and composting the other day. Well, yes you can compost Borage leaves. They act much like Comfrey and speed up the process and help make a lovely loam.

If you want to eat the leaves then they seem to have a cucumber-like flavour which is nice in salads. Some - if you have seen this summers adverts for Pimms O’clock’ - like to put it in drinks, though I don’t see why you should waste the leaves this way.

The blue flowers are more showy than Comfrey and attract bees and butterflies. to your garden.

If you want to grow Borage, then you are best served by sowing directly in pots or seed trays in good seed compost. Keep them out of strong sun light until they have germinated and produced true leaves. Then plant out or pot on when seedlings are large enough to handle.

Using some toilet rolls as ‘peat pots’. They may well have one purpose, but their second life role is just as good.

Today we checked on the seeds we planted last week.

As you can see the Asters have already come through.

Today we are planting some seeds that we will germinate indoors as it is still too cold outside - illustrated by it snowing while we were filming.

Last night it was minus 8 degrees outside so these seeds are now indoors by a window keeping warm.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me.

Today we are potting some seeds that we will germinate indoors as it is still too cold outside - illustrated by it snowing while we were filming.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me.