A lot of excitement at the plot! Autumn planting!

In August an allotment is in a phase which is all about harvest. There’s likely lots of stuff growing, fruiting and flowering.

But I’m excited about this. It’s the stem of a member of the cabbage family. Where the leaves connect to the stem there are tiny buds. These are Brussels sprouts and more to the point they aw purple. What a beautiful thing.

I’m also excited about this:

It’s fuzzy but it’s the hairy pods of the soya beans. I’m really hoping there’s still enough sun for these plants to produce beans we can eat. It’s our first year of success with them but the weather isn’t being very kind. I may need to cloche them to keep them warm enough.

Now this other hairy fella might be a bad guy but what a photo! The neighbouring plot has some lovely dahlias. And there he was! I think it’s the caterpillar of a yellow tailed moth.

We’ve also made the bold decision to do some additional planting. Which thankfully happened before this weeks nasty rains came.

The photo went green from a setting I hadn’t realised was on! However this is the start of something good. These little seedlings are a range of crops.

We’ve planted pak choi, rocket, peas, beetroot, carrots, French beans and spring onions.

It’s a long shot but the ground was clear and we’ve never done this before.

If we are lucky these crops will produce edible shoots at the very least. I think they call them micro greens.

In theory pak choi prefers cooler weather as it tends to bolt or run to seed in summer. Fingers crossed!