Spent the morning at the allotment on Saturday and tidied up the collapsing bean wigwams/structures.
I collected all of the withered beans first and filled a huge carrier bag with these.

I have now tidied up all the canes for the winter and since the roots are rich in nitrogen I also left the bean plants in place to rot back into the soil.

Not much left on the allotment now – I did bring home one Kohl Rabi – there are still lots more but they are not swelling up yet – I guess it has been too dry and I have not made enough effort to water the plot recently.
my cabbages were a real disappointment – I picked a few on Saturday and they are all riddled with slugs and snails right through to the middle – I guess I should have used more slug pellets.
My Brussel Sprouts, Kale and Brocolli plants all seem to be weathering OK though.
I had an on-site feast of raspberrries – think that was the last of those though.

Another job I finally got round to was pruning the huge cherry tree. I am sure it is the wrong time of year for this but I have been too busy since getting the plot back in March.
I chopped all of the pruned branches down to managable sizes and have put them in my log-store (it will be soon time to start using the open fire at home) – and the leaves were all raked up and pushed around the base of my raspberry canes – I felt they would make a good mulch.

Anyway – once I was home I podded the withering beans and collected plenty of seeds for next year.
I only got half way through the beans that I had collected and had plenty – so I threw the rest onto my compost heap.

I now have plenty of white and black french bean seeds for next year – plenty more than I need I am sure – I’ll have to pack them up in envelopes and give them away.

My purple Kohl Rabi are growing well – and have so far escaped the slugs, butterflies and local rabbits – despite the fact that I have not netted them.

Looking forward to seeing the balls swell up – although again I have made the mistake of planting way too many in one go – I should have staggered the sowings – that’s a lesson to remember next year.

The Rhubarb have suddenly started to thrive too – now that it’s too late to really pick any stalks – looking forward to a bumper harvest of the Rhubarb next year instead.

Ordered a few more packs of seeds – thanks to VegetableSeeds.net.

Am looking forward to getting these planted – I always get a feeling at this time of year – that I am falling behind and that I should really already have lots of seedlings transplanted into the ground.
I have few things in – and a few things doing quite well on my windowsills at home – but I can’t help thinking that the little vegetable plants have little chance against the mighty weeds that seem to grow so fast it’s almost possible to watch them as it happens.

My surrounding allotmenteers all seem to have beds brimming with greenery – mine is mostly soil still – although the populated fruit cage has made a bit of a difference.