We had a trip to Wisley today, thus completing my first bit of half-term homework for my RHS course (to visit a garden and observe different sorts of plants in situ).  We timed the trip to coincide with the “Taste of Autumn” show.  It was a glorious day and a very enjoyable trip (completed with the purchase of cheese, sausages, nuts etc.).  We had a look at the allotment plot and once again, it was good to see that we are not really missing any tricks.

Inspecting the onions at Wisley

 Whilst looking round the plant shop we saw some Asparagus Crowns (Purple pacific) and bought six crowns.  This inspired a trip to the allotment where Lynn prepared and planted an asparagus trench, while I cleared the almost dead cucurbits and the tomatoes from the polytunnel and got a bonfire going.  Then, instead of coming home, we kept going and cleared the weed suppressant membrane and rough dug one of next year’s potato beds and planted it with green manure (field beans).

The photo below shows the sun setting on an autumnal plot.  There are large piles of things to be burned as I don’t want to compost things like the cucurbits which finished the year with mildew, the fungus would not be killed by a domestic compost heap.

Autumn tidying