We are likely to see the first frosts of the season tonight and tomorrow if the Met Office’s forecast is to be believed. It is predicting lows of 2°, which will come as a bit of a shock given how relatively mild the nights have been this autumn. I need to look out my woolly hat for the early morning dog walk, and it’s going to be foggy too, so proper seasonal weather, which is good. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to think about moving any tender plants indoors to overwinter, I’m doing that with my pot grown agapanthus, and the citrus trees and Loquat that live outside all summer.

You have probably seen the warnings of a possible ‘Beast from the North’ just over the horizon. It’s something to do with the polar vortex that’s responsible for bringing colder conditions to Europe as a consequence of a disrupted jet stream, which could force cold Arctic air southwards. Time will tell if this will actually happen, or whether there is a bit of backside covering going on. Maybe we will all have to break in to our stockpiled food and water stores if we get snowed in; though I’m not sure that the Government advice was aimed at this type of weather event. It would be quite nice to know what it is that they are not telling us.

I haven’t mentioned D’Arcy the hare for a couple of weeks. That’s because it is more than a week and a half since I last saw it. Most days I have been down to the orchard to see if he is there, but since Wednesday 28th October there has not been a sight of him. I set up my Trailcam to see if I could catch a glimpse of him to reassure me that he is alright, but alas nothing. I hope that he has found a safe haven somewhere, and some friendly hare company. I miss badly, but feel so privileged to have spent a couple of months observing him at close quarters, he was/is a joy.

Work in the garden at the moment continues to be centred on clearing spent crops – mostly in the greenhouse and polytunnel. The tomato plants in the tunnel have been given a stay of execution week after week because fruit continued to ripen. There was not enough to include it in the shop, so for the past 2 or 3 weeks I have taken it to the market, but now there really is nothing left to pick apart from some green tomatoes, so this week the plants will all go on to the compost heap. In their place I have spring greens to plant out. In the greenhouse I planted some more chard and Pak Choi to follow on from the earlier plantings. Outside the cover crops have taken pretty well, and not too many garlic cloves have been hoiked out by the birds.

Yesterday was very frustrating. My Wordle streak ended! It was going to happen at some point, but I would have accepted it with better grace had it been a proper word…..but prate? I have never heard that word used in my life, so I hate prate. I was spitting feathers! So after a run of 176 consecutive successful completions, today I am back to 1.

In better news the US mid-term elections were something to cheer. Let’s hope that the unhinged orange one doesn’t do anything silly in a fit of pique as some kind of retribution – anything is possible.

I have sold all of the cooking apples, but there are some Ashmead’s Kernel eaters this week. It is not the most beautiful apple, but it is one of the tastiest of late season varieties. There are oranges and lemons again, and as the European citrus season kicks in there should be availability of Clementines soon, followed by Blood oranges. There will be Cavolo Nero, Broccoli, Jan King cabbages, cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts tops this week. I will be cutting more Pak Choi this week, and there are still some small green peppers. Aside from that it’s mostly root veg.

Murphy’s Law has struck at home. Yesterday, as the night-time temperature dropped so our boiler decided to go on the blink. We are without heating, but we have a back-up immersion heater for the hot water, so that’s not so bad. It’s not often that we have had a breakdown, but when we do it always seems to be at the weekend. The woodburning stove is keeping us toastie warm in the sitting room, but elsewhere in the house a coat is required. I might wear my night-cap in bed tonight.

Have a good week.

Phil