Happy Halloween!

I was hoping to be carving an own grown pumpkin this year - never mind, I'm still pleased with the look of this one. I chose the design as a reference to the Harry Potter books, which of course concluded this year. Farewell Harry!

Here's proof it really is a pumpkin..

The Lost Summer

A part of me is still loooking for it on fine days.

The garden has been well and truly waterlogged this year, leaving the earth compacted and keeping pretty much everything looking straggly. As for garden, so for blog, which also came to an abrupt halt as the miserable weather set in.

Here then is a brief, sad history, after which we'll be definitely and determinedly moving on.

Runner beans - failed to manage even a stroll

Onions -1 (out of 20)

Potatoes - small and NOT perfectly formed

Butternut squash - quashed

Pumpkins - nothing plump about 'em

Sweetcorn - not sweet and quite frankly not funny either

Peas - not pleased, also got showered regularly by the kitties, so refused to grow.

Leeks - leeked conviction

Garlic - well hardly

Broad beans - narrow yield

Overall best crop and winner of most persistent plants this year - definitely the Tomatoes which were slow to start but hung on in there until the rain stopped (end of September, wasn't it?) and then grew like the survival of their genus depended on it.

So it was all rather grim in the garden. Luckily though, there is some good news - In the hope of better results next year, I've taken over an allotment
As you can see it's a bit ramshackle and overgrown (perfect!) but not too far gone, so the weeds are coming up quite easily, along with the large number of half grown potatoes I keep finding every time I stick my fork in the ground.
There's a good water system set up - a large vat and a number of butts, some roofed storage (Who needs walls?) and four long raised beds plus a topless (Oh!) - Calm down, it's a cold frame.