Autumn already!

Well, I suppose we can't really complain, because we had a much better Summer than we have had for many years, but it definitely seems like Autumn now. Last weekend we had some very nasty weather - strong winds driving occasional heavy rain, and overnight temperatures down to about 3C. Winter seems just round the corner.

My garden took a bit of a battering. I was worried that my Runner Beans would blow over, because a row of beans like them, in full leaf still, has a high wind-resistance potential. Unfortunately the tallest of my chilli plants did fall over, shedding unripe chillis left, right and centre. :-(  I rescued the fallen fruits though, and they may eventually ripen indoors.


Chilli "Christmas Bell"



The other chillis are OK, although ripening painfully slowly in the cooler conditions:

Chilli "Sumher"

Elsewhere in the garden, the Winter brassicas are coming on strongly. These are my Brussels Sprouts:



Brussels Sprout "Brilliant"



Brussels Sprout "Brilliant"



One of my raised beds is currently devoted to Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Cavolo Nero and a couple of "Matsuri" miniature broccoli plants:



Mixed brassicas



I am growing two different types of Cavolo Nero. One is called "Black Magic" and the other is simply "Cavolo de Nero" (sic). I hadn't expected them to be much different, but they are. Their colour is very different. One is much darker than the other. Presumably the darker one is "Black Magic". I should have labelled them separately, shouldn't I? I called them both just "Cavolo Nero".



Cavolo Nero - two types!



If you think that is snow on the ground you're wrong (thankfully!). Those are flower petals from my neighbour's Russian Vine plant which has invaded my "Fish Tree". (You don't know about the Fish Tree? It is a Sorbus of some sort, but we gave it its name because the flowers small very fishy!).

My climbing beans were slow to start this year, due to the prolonged cold Spring, but hopefully they will mature before the frosts start. These ones are "Veitch's" (one of the varieties sent me by Jude, who wrote that guest post called "The GloriousBean"). I am not picking any of the pods to eat green, but rather will be leaving them to fully mature so that I can dry them for Winter use.

Climbing bean "Veitch's"

This one decided to do a little flourish at the end of its pod...

And this one had no idea which way to go...