Remnants

In mid-October I don't expect there to be much in the way of veg left in my garden. The Summer things have finished, and the Winter ones (mostly Brassicas) are not ready yet. However there are still one or two things worth having, and in a veg plot as small as mine you need to seize every opportunity, so I'm not pulling anything up until I'm sure it has delivered 100% of its potential.

This Red Cabbage is supposed to be ready by now. Probably due to the strange weather this year it has grown incredibly slowly (the heart is only about the size of a grapefruit). I'm tempted to cut this one now,

because it's not likely to get much bigger. I just checked my records, and it was sowed on 9th March!
.

Red Cabbage "Primero"

What can I say about the squashes? A dismal performance all round. This one Patty Pan is the only squash fruit of any sort (I had 3 types) that has made it past infancy, and it will probably succumb to frost before it's big enough to be worth eating. Or to Powdery Mildew, as you can see...

Patty Pan squash

Beetroot, on the other hand, has done well. The crop has matured steadily, a few at a time and with hardly any bolters. These have all gone now - at least as far as the kitchen - and we used several of the small ones in our Baby Beet Tarte Tatin.

Beetroot "Red Ace"

The "Autumn Bliss" Raspberries are nearly done now - just the odd few coming on, and mostly a pale shadow of their earlier excellence. Literally. Their colour is much less intense.

Raspberry "Autumn Bliss"

My "Cobra" climbing French Beans have not done well, but that was mostly my fault. I sowed them too early, and I put them in a position where they were cold and didn't get enough light. However, they are still going, and having any pods at all in mid-October is welcome. You can always use even just a handful of beans in something.

Climbing French Bean "Cobra"

This "Matsuri" miniature Broccoli is growing in a pot, an experiment that I don't think I will repeat. I'm sure they would have done better in open soil. Lots of watering required, and a small return at the end of it.

Miniature Broccoli "Matsuri"

The Batavian or broad-leaved Endive seems not to be at all frost-tolerant. We had one night last week when the temperature dipped to minus 1C, and this happened: (The Curly Endive seems fine, meanwhile).

Batavian Endive

Now what about this for optimism? A tomato plant producing new fruit in October! This is the little volunteer plant growing amongst the Runner Beans. I don't expect that fruit to ripen...

Tomato - volunteer, type umknown

But some of these just might! That's a 9" / 23cm diameter plate, so you can see that the fruits are no more than the size of a decent currant.

Fruit from plant shown in previous photo

I wasn't going to mention beans, but I just couldn't resist it:

800g of beans, mostly Runners

The speckly ones at the bottom left of the photo above are those Mechelse Tros or "Mushy Pea" beans. Not enough to be worth cooking, but I'll dry them and keep the seeds for next year.

Talking of remains... I saw this dead fox on the footpath by the side of the road, only about 200 metres from my house.

Should I be happy or sad? I have mixed feelings. After all it might be the one that caused so much havoc in my raised beds earlier in the year...