The time of year quickly comes round again when harvesting becomes a top priority on visits to the plot. It’s always exciting to literally see the fruits of your labour, but it is bittersweet as it signals to approach of the end of the season.

First up were the onions. Certainly not as impressive in size as last year, not really sure of the reason for that. We weren’t sure whether it was down to the soil needing some more nutrients, not feeding them enough, or the weather conditions this year compared to last. But there were a good number and if we hadn’t had the whoppers from 2013 we wouldn’t be so critical!

Next was the garlic and a similar story applies in that they are not as good as last years Best in Show crop! There are some good bulbs but some don’t seem to have fully developed their papery skin which hasn’t happened before. Those ones will still be good for the cooking pot but won’t stand up to the scrutiny of the show bench!

You can’t dwell on the crops coming to an end too much as you are always looking forward to the next few months. In place of the onions we planted the wallflowers out. They may need to be brought in if the winter is harsh but for now they can get the opportunity of some good growing outside.

We set up loads of pots of compost around the strawberry beds and stuck a generous selection of the runners into them. They will sufficiently regenerate those that are tiring next year.

The curly kale, cavolo nero and the purple and green sprouting broccoli was planted out into the tunnels that were prepared a week or two ago.

And there is always some colour to make you feel like summer is still winning out!