Tim was a little behind today so I thought that I would dig up the last bit of the plot that hadn't been dug whatsoever. I soon got bored, however, and decided to admire my tomatoes instead. It's never as much fun digging by yourself, for some strange reason! Maybe I just prefer Tim to share this joy.

Tim and I went to the plot today and decided to dig up all of the maincrop potatoes. We had Desirees and Maris Piper spuds in the earth. The latter type had been spotted by our allotment shop owner, Gordon, as “foreign spuds” (potatoes bought from somewhere other than his shop). We tried to keep out of his way. We were a little concerned because of the possibility of blight. We had chopped the foliage off the plants in August to try and thwart any blight spreading from our affected tomato plants. As we dug the potatoes up we discovered a crop of potatoes free of disease. They had also managed to avoid swelling up too much! They were all very medium-sized and there didn't seem to be that many potatoes per plant. We only had one hessian sack between us and we didn't think we were going to fill it up!

We put the potatoes in two separate piles and we were both feeling a little disappointed with the crop as we went along. We decided to put the spuds in the hessian sack and soon realised that by spreading the potatoes out on the ground as we had been going along had made the amount of potatoes we had look a lot less. We filled up one sack and I had to go home and get another. We then had a further two carrier bags for the Maris Pipers. Potatoes really are a magical crop. Although they weren't that big, we still had a lot to show for very little effort.

The small potatoes, we thought, could be attributed to the lack of rainfall during the summer months. It had virtually been a drought. Still, we can't complain. Two hessian sacks filled with potatoes? From 14lbs (6.35kg) of seed potatoes? That's around 110lbs (50kg) of Desirees alone!

We watered the plot at the end of the day and even managed to find time to save some runner bean seeds. Even now, as we are cropping, we are still thinking of (and looking forward to) what we are going to grow next year.

Today was pretty much devoted to digging. Tim and I saw the need to re-dig the patch from which we had extracted the maincrop potatoes. It was full of bindweed, nettles, brambles and other sorts of weeds. A wise person once said that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place. Why in the world do we have so many lost little plants on our plot, then?

We had a look around the plot first of all, checking out the growth of our kohl rabi and saw a dragonfly visiting our water-filled bath tub on the second plot. We also saw that after around five weeks since we lit a bonfire on the top of the second plot, it was still smouldering away. After all this time! Tim thinks that it's burning some manure that was left to rot there; I didn't even know poop was flammable.

We dug and dug, removing any foreign looking weeds and then putting them all on a new bonfire. It took us nearly the entire day just to re-dig the patch because it was so dry and so full of weeds. We managed to get it all done in the end but then we started planting some more crops. We put in some spring onions, little gem lettuces, cabbage and sprouts (yuck!!) We then covered our newly planted seedlings under some netting, to stop the wildlife eating the tender seedlings, and watered the plot.

We also picked some veg in the way of tomatoes and some carrots. We had some Autumn King and Healthmaster (purple) carrots and bunched together they looked stunning.

Despite it being hard work sometimes, it really does feel like an achievement every time we dig, or pick some veg. We feel successful every day with our allotment.

Suey came up to help us today. Tim and I reckoned that today would be the last time we would be weeding the crops this year because after this we had some serious digging to do. We really need to start digging the second plot in preparation for next year, otherwise it's all going to be too late. Besides, the weather is becoming noticeably colder and the nights are drawing in. It's dark by 7:30pm now.

The first thing Tim showed me when we arrived on the plot was a cauliflower forming, which was the size of a golf ball. We were so pleased! We the all started weeding on our own little patches. Tim was weeding amongst the leeks, Suey amongst the carrots, while I dug the weeds out where the beetroot had been. It's a thankless task and one where you I don't feel much satisfaction but it's an important part of this gardening malarkey that we seem to enjoy.

In between weeding, we looked around at the crops we were growing and were thrilled with the kohl rabi growing just a little bit bigger. I thinned them out a bit because they all seemed pretty close together. We had some peas growing again and we even managed to pick some, although the majority of them only had two peas per pod. Our sweetcorn has been eaten by the birds again. It's so disheartening to see it stripped bare but you always learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes (allegedly). We will definitely be protecting the sweetcorn next year!

Tim and I dug up the final parsnips that had been left in the ground. Neither Tin nor myself like parsnips so although when we pulled them out of the ground they were big and impressive, the stink of the parsnip was enough to make us realise that they were ultimately a pointless crop (although Suey and Michelle both love parsnips).

We finished the day by planting out some broccoli where I had just dug. Tim planted out some little gem lettuces and spring onions where Suey had dug and weeded. It was all looking lovely again, although I'm sure that the weeds will prevail.

Tim and I got to the plot this morning and tried to avoid work for as long as possible by drinking a couple of cups of tea each. We looked around the plot and saw that our cauliflowers have grown from strength to strength. It won't be long until we're picking them. The Kohl Rabi is getting even bigger and the peas were beginning to look a bit mildewy. We picked quite a few before the peas start to taste starchy.

The Polka raspberries that Tim bought from Victoriana Nursery are STILL cropping. They must be exhausted! We get exhausted just picking them all each day. They are also absolutely delicious. They have been one of our best buys since taking on the plot.

Tim pulled up the Borlotti beans and one wigwam of runner beans. There was still one wigwam of runners that were still cropping. Even our favourites, the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, seem to have stopped cropping. We then dug the section where the wigwams had been so that we could plant up our Christmas spuds. Our mate Roger from the nearby plot had ordered some potatoes for Nigel, Tim and me. These will be ready in time for our Christmas dinner. How spectacular! We measured them out and planted them in the ground and hoped for the best.

We also dug up the ground where the wigwam of climbing peas had been. We planted the five Vivaldi potatoes I had been chitting for a few weeks to see if they will grow. They are named Vivaldi because they apparently crop for “four seasons”. They are also meant to be the ideal dieter's spud because they have been bred to be lower in carbs and calories. Truly it must be a wonder-spud. We shall see!

We even started digging up the final section of our plot that had remained untouched ALL year. We started to dig it and then it began to rain hard. We sheltered in the greenhouse until it subsided then re-emerged to plant out some over-wintering onions that my dad had bought for me. We got that done, picked some veg and called it a day.

Although we had to cut our day short it was still enjoyable and we can't wait to come back next month!