I like this time of year. Some people might find it sad or depressing that everything is finishing, dying down, but it doesn’t bother me. There is a certain kind of pleasure in clearing away dead leaves, cutting down raspberry canes and preparing new ground for next year’s planting.

That’s the raspberry patch and rhubarb bed cleared, canes cut down, mulched etc and now they can have a rest. I was picking the fruit right to the end and if I hadn’t done the tidy up they would still be producing more.

Next job was to finish clearing the ground around my other little plot, a half where we have some communal fruit trees and a bit of horseradish. All the leaves went in my next trench for more climbing beans, that exposed some juicy slugs and the birds had a feast.

After this I have just one piece of another plot to dig but I can take my time there, that’ll be the next year’s potato plot.

All in all I’m quite pleased with the result, especially as I have read an article praising the benefits of working on an allotment.