Digging the mound

Been an excellent sunny day. Plenty of work to do.

That mound has been growing a bit long in the wig. Time to give it a haircut. In this case the errant growth is actually Lambs Quarters (aka Goosefoot). A weed to many. But as I say, "a weed is just a plant in the wrong place." Never the less, the weeds are starting to take over. So It's time to get stuck into that mound and start turning over the soil. It's had three years in there now. Two of which have been courgette city. This time I decided to let it go fallow. Time to get digging.

But not everything in there is wasted. Somewhere in the middle is a couple of spuds left over from Sainsbury's. They started to sprout so I just dug a hole, threw them in and let them get on with it. Sure enough after a few minutes digging the gold was uncovered.

So things are starting to die back a bit now - apart from the weeds. The cherry tomatoes in the green house just aren't turning, yet the leaves are starting to yellow and fall off. So it's time to give them their due and harvest what's left.

So today's harvest comprised of a single courgette (not shown), toms and spuds.

Meanwhile in the green house, it looks like the strawberries are trying to escape. They've sent out offshoots and are trying to make a break for the door. Before they could get very far, I grabbed them and stuffed them in some pots. I haven't yet snipped them from the mother plant. I probably won't do that for a while yet. But it's good to increase the number of plants.

There still a few more trailers from other plants, so hopefully come spring we can have a load more plants. Guess it's time to build a vertical planter for them all.

Now last year (and the year before that) some thieving little blighter had it away on their toes with my grapes. This year I'm going to try and ensure they don't get them by a) covering them with netting and b) rigging a camera trap.

Biggest harvest

Today was the final removal of some of the remaining plants. The last of the beetroots (to be pickled) the last of the outdoor tomatoes (to be chutney'd - the indoor cherry toms are still going strong).

The courgettes are still cranking out the odd one or two, though the rate of production has slowed somewhat.

Then there is the lavender that we planted ages ago. It seems to have done a reasonable job this year. I wouldn't say a brilliant job because the recent rains over the past few weeks has somewhat dampened the flowers. But today was pretty dry so I though it would be a good idea to try and harvest a few of the longer stems. I want to try and turn them into Lavender Wands.

Whilst I was at the plot, I also started cutting back the leaf beets. They'd all gone to seed anyway, so now is the time to trim them back ready for the winter months. Hopefully next year they'll do us proud once again. Providing the frost doesn't get them. Mind you, we really do need a good winter to kill off some of the pests that seem to be everywhere these days. Maybe the El Nino effect that is going on at present will oblige. It's usual effect is to give us a colder, drier winter.

But garden pests are not the only danger that is out and about. I travel to Slough for work. So Slough Station is a common place I visit. And so do hundreds of kids with their parents thanks to Legoland at Windsor. So imagine my dismay when I see a rather pest of a plant growing right by the side of the platform where any grasping little fingers can get at the tempting looking berries.

Three guesses as to what this plant is...

I know exactly what this is, and I have informed the appropriate authorities.