The Great Autumn Clear Up - part 1.

Why part one I hear you ask? Well I expect the clear up will take some time, so it saves thinking up new titles all the time. In reality the clear up has been going on for a few weeks, but it now seems to be picking up pace. Ooh, there is another cheeky robin staring at me through the window: that has nothing to do with the post, but I thought I would tell you anyway. The robins in our garden are very territorial and the blue tits, coat tits, great tits and dunnocks all cower in fear, knowing the robin will soon chase them away. This has nothing to do with the allotment however. My friendly "allotment robin" didn't say hello today, perhaps he's busy chasing other wildlife away as well.

Meanwhile...

You may remember that in August (I think) I planted some second crop potatoes as an experiment. Today I gave up and dug the area over again. All the growth had died down and only about three plants had showed any promise. Well, from two rows I harvested about 6 marble sized tubers. I won't try that again. The space is two precious. Here it is freshly clearer again, waiting to be covered over for winter. (Correction, I didn't take a photo: imagine a freshly dug bit of soil. If your imagination is as fertile as the soil, your mental image will be better than a photo could be.)

I've removed all the marigolds and sunflowers from the pottager: It now looks very bare and boring. Can you spot what I'm referring to? (Aah, I can't find that photo either. Imagine more bare soil... it's like that with a cabbage and six leeks in the middle.)

So you don't feel I'm cheating, here is a view across the plot:

A week or two ago I sowed some broad beans and peas to over winter. These have come up well:

Finally, and most exciting, here is the area where the courgettes and french beans were. I'm growing cardboard boxes instead: