The Shedwards Gardening experience: Mid October

We went off on holiday in early September. When we got back we found that much of lettuce had bolted and and the sweetcorn had gone over. It was dry for much of the time that we were away.

That was a minor disappointment and it was offset by good beetroot, rather lovely looking chard, more carrots (Chantenay Red Cored) than we can eat, red cabbage and large number of squash. The carrots are a particularly unexpected success given that I didn't thin or pay much attention to them at all. The first picture shows them not at all in neat rows and the second the rather uneven results obtained (I might thin a bit next time I grow them). I roasted some beetroot (Pablo) and carrot in oil and balsamic vinegar and topped them with some goat's cheese and the result was quite good.

The red cabbage (Red Rookie) looked ready to me also and I took one to make red cabbage with apple. This was a little disappointing because the cabbage wasn't either very dense nor particularly red. Even so, we proved that we can grow brassicas on our ground. We harvested some squash (Celebration) too. We lifted the first of the celeriac (Monarch) today as well. The scent from it was really lovely, much nicer than ordinary celery, pungent and earthy, and it had grown to a decent size. We are delighted, not least because getting them to germinate and make plants big enough to put outside wasn't straightforward. I'll make celeriac remoulade (fancy coleslaw) and celeriac mash with it.

We did a little work on the ground but it was wet, sticky and too heavy to do much with it. Even so around half of the ground is clear of weeds and a large part of the rest will be when the glyphosate weed-killer has done its work. We have a lot of trouble with docks on the lot. They seem almost impossible to dig out without leaving any part of them in the ground and they can grow back from the smallest pieces. I would like to grow without chemicals but we don't have enough free time to manage without a little weedkiller here and there.

There are some vegetables on the plot we haven't eaten yet. We haven't touched the butternut squash (Hunter) or Rhubarb Chard. There are globe and Jerusalem artichokes to try too, so I think we have done quite well in a rotten summer. Our rows aren't straight and I tolerate weeds too much but ours has been a productive plot and I think that we have eaten something from the plot every day since June and perhaps a little earlier. I am very happy with the results we have had.

The year will be turning soon in that we will be receiving our onion and shallot sets and garlic bulbs for over-wintering. That's what we started with two years ago and, as the days shorten quickly, that's where we are again.