"Summer's lease...

...hath all too short a date".

Me neither, but I think it's to do with the fleeting nature of the seasons. September is sliding inexorably towards the equinox, beyond that point of course each day gets fractionally more hours of night than daylight til the vernal equinox next March.

We were clearing up the garden this weekend, chucking the last of the summer bedding into the compost bin for spreading next spring, cutting back the pumpkin flowers to give the 4-5 fruit chance to ripen before Hallowe'en, generally tidying up before the winter comes. I thought this would be a good moment to review what worked and what didn't veg-wise. Some things went surprisingly well, others a complete disaster.

The greenhouse tomatoes were a complete wash-out, but whilst I was emptying out the growbags I noticed they were sodden, in fact they were really heavy to drag out of the green house. They also smelt a bit whiffy and were full of worms - I wonder if that contributed to our poor tomato harvest. Next year I'm going to do what my father in law did, and just buy a few plants, rather than several packets of seeds that might not take. I'll also build a raised bed in the greenhouse rather than use growbags, think I can control the watering a bit better. I have a plan in my little note-book of a nifty multi-use bed and stage thing that I'm going to build, just you wait and see!!

Courgettes I messed up on completely - the ones I planted in 'spring' rotted off, and I didn't keep any spare plants back - I won't get caught like that again. Carrots I never seem to be able to get right - might not bother next year.

On the plus side the french beans did well - when they weren't being stripped by a voracious 7-year old - potatoes were good, and we are currently enjoying a autumn-raspberry bonanza, as this is the first year the plants haven't been denuded by pet rabbits (gawd rest 'em). Think I'll put more plants in next year, they seem to be fairly robust, and have been left alone by the birds - at least the wild ones anyway. My son came in this morning and announced he'd fed a raspberry to the chooks to see if they liked it, and was happy to report they did. Thanks, mate.

We've moved around some of the shrubs - including making a little garden for the chooks in their run to give them somewhere to relax in - honestly, these chooks are living a life of riley. Anyway the space freed up will be turned over to more veggies next year, we'll try that Alys Fowler edible garden approach and stuff veg plants among the shrubs, make as much use as we can of the limited space.

Now the days are drawing in; it's the time of hearty soups and casseroles, log fires and candles, fallen leaves and low mists. The chooks are taking longer each morning to get up, apparently they slow down as a response to the dwindling daylight. They're even going to bed earlier as well. Don't think I'll be seeing any eggs too soon.

Happy Michaelmas to you all, unless you're a goose that is...