Things usually work out for me. I was really tired yesterday after my Sunday work on the allotment so I didn’t go there. The weather also helped – it was raining. It was kitchen work instead. On Sunday my friend Dave gave me quite a few shallots, he always grows a lot of them and mine didn’t do very well this year. I never pickled them before so I thought I’d have a go. I had to start the whole process on Sunday evening, it continued overnight and the whole job was finished yesterday after lunch. Luckily I had all the ingredients so now I just have to wait about three to four weeks and then we can sample them.

Also thanks to Dave I will grow broad beans. I had a good harvest but right in the end the plants got completely smothered with black flies so I wasn’t going to bother. Dave gave me quite a lot of them so on Sunday I put some in the first net cage I cleared.

Perhaps this might stop the attack.

Today was the next little net structure’s turn to be cleared. This is a little greenhouse that Simon on the allotment didn’t have glass for. Waste not want not so I  moved it to this spot and covered with the green netting. A perfect little net cage.

The peas that I grew there this year did very well but now the weeds took over. Fortunately the ground is soft so it didn’t take too long to clear it.

I also found a number of strawberry plants there, these were the ones my friend Eva gave me years ago. I grew them  there but moved them later. These ones survived so they deserved to carry on. I also put the rest of the broad beans in.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now – just the fruit cage to clear out and I’m finished. As it is so mild I’m sure the weeds will start growing again but it would just be a bit of maintenance.

Yesterday I had one more vegetable to harvest – my peppers and chillies. I grew all of them in one greenhouse, seeing I’ve got four greenhouses on the allotment I dedicated each to one kind of vegetable.

The small yellow ones are Lemon drop and are quite hot. The large green ones are sweet peppers called Friggitello and are very nice and prolific . Even though it is almost the end of October I’m leaving the plants in the greenhouse, they have a number of smaller peppers on and I think I might get some more.

Wednesday is my usual day to do some shopping. I drive to a group of shops not far from us and as the parking there is limited I go quite early. That seems to work, today was no exception. I came back nice and quickly and as the weather was reasonable I went to the allotment. My garlic order came yesterday and I wanted to plant it as soon as I could. The two raised beds were ready so the time was right. I planted three different types of garlic – Thermidorme, Rhapsody Wight and Maddock Wight. All this almost filled the two beds, there is only a small area left but that doesn’t matter, I’ve got one more garlic order due to come.

What I won’t fit in there I can plant in my large grow bed in the greenhouse at home, let it grow and then in the spring transplant it in the ground on the allotment. That will  give me time to get the ground ready. I had basil growing in the grow bed but I decided to harvest it for the last time to make some more pesto. It is amazing how delicious home made pesto is. I have got a fool-proof recipe for it.

It makes quite a lot but I freeze it shaped like a log wrapped in grease-proof paper and when I need some I can just slice off enough for the meal.

When the grow bed was empty I enriched the soil with some double strength peat-free compost from my favourite place in the Lakes – Dalefoot peat free compost.

It is ready now for the garlic planting.

About two weeks ago I saw in a restaurant review article a mention of Sichuan pepper. That intrigued me, I did a little search and the result is I have got two little plants, which came today. I potted them into larger pots and will live in hope.

I was looking to buy these plants and found them in a nursery I never knew before – Jurrasic Plants Nurseries. They offer a large range of unusual plants and mine arrived well wrapped and secure, very efficiently done.

It it the busiest time of the growing year. The soft fruit is ready, strawberries are almost over, blueberries will start shortly and raspberries are plentiful. That’s just the fruit, I haven’t mentioned the vegetables – cucumbers, peas, spinach lettuce and this year I have managed a lovely crop of basil in my greenhouse at home. Never mind pesto, tomatoes and basil is a combination made in heaven.

I am delighted to be back in action, I had some technical problems. Fortunately I know a man who can help – my oldest son.All is well and I’m getting used to writing again, I just have to remind myself how.

I thought that the load of wood chippings would last for a long time. How wrong was I!

After doing the main path on the allotment I started on another one, this time between one of my plots and my friend’s. This path wasn’t very good – our site is on a slope and some paths tend to become uneven, one side much higher than the other. In the end it was quite simple – I managed to shave off the higher side, turned the turf upside down and filled the lower side. Then the whole path got covered with the beautiful wood chippings. Immediate improvement!