It's not over 'til the keen frost stings

Winter may be creeping inexorably closer but the plot hasn't been tucked up to sleep just yet.

There is still lots to do - mainly tidying up and getting the beds into a fit state for winter. Happily our use - some may say overuse -of weed control fabric not much weeding is required.

Beds are being cleared of any crop debris, fabric removed and soil dug over. The fabric is then moved to the appropriate bed for next years crops. The fabric is cut to suit particular crops and so rotates as appropriate.

The fabric is covered with a mulch. Hopefully the covered soil will receive some protection from the battering rain and will warm up a little faster in spring. Not all the beds will be covered. Beds with rougher soil will benefit from a bit of weathering and beds destined for first early potatoes will also stay uncovered. As Martyn wrote in his blog post, although planting potatoes through the fabric was a success it did make it difficult to lift individual roots of first earlies so these will be grown conventionally.

Fruit beds have been tidied. Top left is the redcurrants area, as this is covered with weed control fabric only a little weeding was necessary. I also cut out any branches that were broken or trailing on the ground or making it difficult for me to move around the plants. The tops of the bushed were trimmed back so that they didn't push against the netting that covers the top of the 'cage'.

The blueberry bed - top right - just needed a general tidy.

Although we will be planting up a new strawberry bed this year, the old bed will be left this year and so had a general tidy up.

We like to weed selectively. The pear bed below may look as though it needs weeding but the weeds are actually candytuft seedlings which I am leaving to grow and hopefully produce a carpet of colour early nest year. I've been collecting and sprinkling other annual seeds in this bed to try and encourage other annuals to colonise this bed.

Other 'weeds' such as self sown foxgloves have been transplanted into more appropriate locations.

A few flowers are hanging on in the annual flower bed, mainly cosmos. In other beds the biennials - wallflowers, sweet Williams and sweet rocket- are growing well along with ammi that I think I sowed at the wrong time.

A few single dahlias are still flowering but I forgot to take a photo of them.

Crops are still managing to grow. Autumn planted onions and garlic are off to a good start.

Other crops will be ready to harvest shortly or will be stored in the ground until we need them.

Once the keen frosts put in an appearance all this will change. Tender flowers will wither and the alpine strawberries will stop providing fruit. Hardier plants will enter a sleepy period where they will survive - hopefully - but not grow.

The ground will harden and digging will stop and we will hide away in the warmth finding other things to enjoy until milder conditions return.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett