An update

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I’m glad to say that there is still not much I need to do in my garden at present apart from harvest. Everything seems reasonably under control (famous last words…)

I am awaiting with eager anticipation the ripening of these mystery beans.

As you can see, the pods, whilst mostly a light green colour, have a definite purple tinge to them. I wonder what the beans inside will look like.

It is a shame that I only have one plant of this type, because it looks like a good one. Even though it was very late to set pods, they have grown quickly and some of them are now very big and fat.

Not wishing to be outdone, the Runner beans have decided to set some more pods. The plants have several clusters like this:

I wonder if they will have time to mature before the frosts arrive?

I have written a lot about tomatoes recently. They are the dominant feature of my garden right now. Although I have now picked most of the fruit, there is still a significant quantity left. This is “Ferline”, a blight-resistant variety. You can see that some of its leaves are definitely affected by blight, but I hope the fruit will be OK.

This is a close-up of a blight-infected tomato leaf:

This is my “Brazilian Starfish” chilli plant. The leaves are going yellow and dropping off. Thankfully a few of the fruits are ripening.

This is one of the unidentified Turkish chilli plants, one of those that I planted out fairly late, when I saw that the main crop was in danger of annihilation. It is just setting its first fruit.

This is it – the first fruit (possibly the last too!)

This is the bed containing Parsnips, Leeks and Celeriac. The Leeks have grown so slowly this year! This time last year the Leeks I grew were huge, but these are barely bigger than a Spring Onion.

The Celeriac is not brilliant either – about the size of a tennis-ball. Having said that, this is about the biggest I have ever managed to produce. What on earth is the secret of good Celeriac???

Fortunately the “Mira” Cabbages are better… Not huge yet, but looking promising.

I am holding off digging up the Sweet Potatoes. I will leave them as long as possible, though I suspect that it won’t be long before we get our first frosts, which will kill off the foliage. I am prepared to be disappointed!

The salads are still going strong. Conditions at present (cool, but not cold; damp) are ideal for Lettuce.

I do have more Lettuce seedlings waiting in the wings, but I rather suspect I will not be transplanting any of them. It’s just too late in the season.

Even the Endives are OK. The ones I grew during the Summer all bolted, but there are some quite decent ones now. My persistence is rewarded!

Most of the flowers are past their best now. The “Bishop of Llandaff” Dahlia is still producing blooms, but they are very small ones now.

The Coreopsis is probably the most enthusiastic flowering plant in my garden at present.

I’m tempted to take another cut of the Comfrey, which has regenerated very enthusiastically after its earlier ‘haircut’. The thing is though that the plants that would benefit most from a dose of Comfrey Tea (tomatoes and chillis) are finished, or nearly so, and it might just be better to let the Comfrey build up its own strength for next year.

So there you are – that’s the state of play in my garden at present.

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P.S. Thank you to everyone who sent their best wishes for our wedding anniversary. Jane comes back home tomorrow after 10 days away in France, so I’m planning a special meal…

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