Set off to pick elderberries, came back with Kale Rubibor and Erbette to make the filling - along with shallots and garlic - for 'sausage' rolls.

The weather has been sunny by day but cold at night (5 degrees), perhaps cold enough to wreck the elderberries. The cultivated crops haven't been dented though, although the greenhouse has seemingly frozen in time, with the reddening of the remaining fruit the only (slow) change...

The first seed order of the New (gardening) Year (is there another one?) arrived today from Nicky's Nursery:

Aubergine:
Neon F1

Farmers Long
Ping Tung

Pepper:
Baby Cheesebells

Trinidad Seasoning

Shishitou
Tepin

Round of Hungary

Choco F1

Antohi Romanian

Lettuce:
Sucrine

Followed by overwintering onion sets from Fothergills:

Radar

Swift

Electric

Bianco

It seems like no time since I was last planting them out - October 2005.

The sun is shining again, but noticeably lower in the sky. The greenhouse is now in gloom until noon - at least until the leaves fall off the apple tree...

Seed sowing continues apace, encouraged by the quick germination of many seeds sown so far. The chicory is growing as fast as the brassicas.

Large sowings of Spinach Riccio d'Asti, Chard Verde da Taglio, Pak Choi Riko F1 and Komatsuna to provide, hopefully, outdoor hardy winter crops. I'm less certain if these will survive: Texel Greens, Choy Sum Tsai Hsin & Mustard Golden Streaks, but nothing ventured...

For the staging in the winter Greenhouse: Clary Sage, Chervil and Poached Egg (Sunny Side Up) plants.

Very mild and still very wet.

The state of the haulms (brown spots, ragged) suggested it was time to cut down the main crop potatoes. I put the cuttings in with some weeds in a huge builder's sack - the idea being to pre-compost more hazardous stuff. Since I had the secateurs in hand I lopped off the unused brocolli stems in an effort to encourage even more growth. It was then back to the asparagus bed for another weeding session in readiness for their big September feed with seaweed meal.

Hasty harvest only today under a cloudy sky.

Dinner was augmented by a mixed salad of lettuce, wild rocket, chop suey greens, land cress and salad onions. Tomatoes still big, red and sweet. The chillies are now turning red rapidly - a spectacular show in the autumnal gloom.

Four large cobs of corn proved very tasty but still a bit tough after 8 minutes boiling - just too late with the harvest again. More successful was the chard relative Erbette, just like chard should be in fact, tasty but yielding in texture. A new staple crop.

A walk down Moorfoot Lane revealed a vast number of sloes and a few rosehips. I'll wait until after the first frost before taking these.

Less rain.

To the 'orchard' to dig up, very belatedly, the Elephant Garlic - not very elephantine in fact but a dozen cloves worth having...

Sowed: Cabbages Hispi and Pyramid (for spring greens); Onion Hi-Keeper (to wean us off sets next year); Mibuna, Chicory Orchidea Rossa and Grumola Rossa, and Chinese Water Pepper (Polygonum Hydropiper). The latter is cultivated in pots standing in water.

More rain.

Laurie valiantly struggled around the muddy soil as I grubbed up the last of the second earlies. Another good boxful. There's almost too much harvest to handle at the moment. The corn on the cob is ready for everyone to eat on Tuesday evening. The brocolli is sprouting away still and more squash are being discovered all the time.

Back in the refuge of the greenhouse I sowed some late Carrots (Nantes Frubund), Italian Giant Parsley, Wild Rocket, Mustard Green in Snow and a final attempt at Dog Rose from seed. (If this fails again I'll give up and take some cuttings instead). I've sown some leaf chicory (Spadona and Zuccherina di Trieste) in boxes on the decking - the idea being to get a few 'cut and come again' helpings before the first frosts...

Twenty-four hours of rain.

I sorted out my seeds: packing away beans, cucurbits and tomatoes for a few months and replacing them with lots of sturdy winter greens. Even in the greenhouse the change in season is apparent. I cut away a lot of the lower leaves on the tomato, pepper and aubergine plants to help the damp air circulate a bit. The greenhouse border remains almost completely healthy, despite closer planting and increasingly tired soil (I resolved to replace this at half term).

With the rain beating down on the glass, I sowed the following lettuces into a large grid of small cells;

Lattughino, Maravilla de Verano Canasta, Romana Mortarella Verde d'Inverno, Rouge Grenobloise, Winter Density, Rouge d'Hiver, Lattughino, Arctic King.

Six of the following into modules;

Chicory Variegata di Castel Franco, Chicory Variegata di Chioggia 'Fladige', Chicory Bianca di Chioggia, Endive Riccia, Endive Ascolana, Chard Lucullus.

All of the above will be planted in the raised beds in the garden, where they can be 'cloched' if necessary. Then, for the winter greenhouse border, a few salad onions (White Lisbon & Winter Bunching) and the following mustards:

Amsoi, Bau-Sin, Big Stem, Peacock Tail, San-Ho Giant.

I also started off some Lovage and Chinese Angelica (Dong Quai). (The roots of the latter are, apparently, a source of vitamin B12 - although I suspect this may be more to do with their cultivation). Laurie joined me at this point and, very efficiently, filled up the 3" pots with compost for the rest of the lavender and the basil.

This month's sowing list:

Carrot Nantes Frubund
Achillea Millefolium 'Cassis'
Achillea Summer Pastels
Achillea Summer Pastels Mixed F2
Burkheya Purpurea
Bergenia Cordifolia Winter Flowering Mixed
Cabbage Hispi
Cabbage Pyramid

Chinese Angelica
Dog Rose
Geranium Pratense Purple Haze
Malva Moschata Snow White
Mustard Green in snow
Onion Hi Keeper F1
Potentilla Fireball Mixed
Wahlenbergia Undulata Melton Blue Bird
Self Heal

Last chance for:

American cress
Burnet Salad
Chard Verde da Taglio

Chard Lucullus
Chicory Bianca di Chioggia
Chicory Orchidea Rossa

Chicory Palla Rossa 'Pagoda'
Chicory Rossa di Treviso 2
Chicory Spadona
Chicory Variegata di Castel Franco
Chicory Variegata di Chioggia 'Fladige'
Chicory Zuccherina di Trieste

Chinese Water Pepper
Choy Sum Tsai Hsin
Clary Sage
Edible Carrot Leaf
Endive Ascolana
Endive Bionda a Foglia di Lattuga
Endive Bubikopf 2
Endive Riccia
Horehound
Indian Mustard Amsoi
Kale Galega de Folhas Lisas
Kale Portuguese Penca Pavoa Verde
Komatsuna
Lettuce Lattughino
Lettuce Maravilla de Verano Canasta
Lettuce Romana Mortarella Verde d'Inverno
Lettuce Rouge Grenobloise
Lettuce Winter Crop
Lettuce Winter Density
Lettuce Rouge d'Hiver
Linum Blue Dress
Lovage

Mibuna

Mustard Golden Streaks
Onion Tonda Musona
Oriental Mix
Pak Choi Riko F1
Pansy Ocean Series
Pansy Pandora's Children F1
Perilla
Poached Egg plant
Radish Big Ben
Rocket Wild
Spinach Giant Winter
Spring Onion White Lisbon

Spring Onion Winter White Bunching
Sweet Woodruff
Texel Greens
Turnip Tokyo Cross F1

Plenty of time yet for:

Alexanders
Artichoke Violetto Precoce
Chicory Bianca di Milano
Chicory Catalgna Frastagliata
Chicory Grumolo Nero
Chicory Grumolo Rossa
Chicory Grumolo Verde
Chicory Red Rib
Chicory Taglio Bionda a Fofglie Larghe
Chinese Cabbage Tatsoi
Endive Romanesca da Taglio
Geranium Pratense Purple Haze
Kale Red Russian
Lambs Lettuce Cavallo
Lambs Lettuce Verte de Cambrai
Lettuce Amorina
Lettuce Arctic King
Lettuce Barba dei Frati
Lettuce May King
Lettuce Parella Rossa
Lettuce Red Wave
Malva Moschata Snow White
Misome
Mustard Bau-Sin
Mustard Big Stem
Mustard Peacock Tail
Mustard San-Ho Giant
Rampion
Scuplit
Spinach Riccio d'Asti
Spring Onion White Lisbon (Winter Hardy)
Bulbous Chervil
Pea Meteor
Chervil
Mustard White
Senposai Greens No. 1
Tree Ferns House & Garden Mixed
Winter Cress
Wistaria Sinensis
Yucca Outdoor Mixed
Broad Bean Masterpiece Green Longpod
Cauliiflower Mexico F1
Parsley Italian Giant
Lettuce Lobjoits Green Cos

A new year. Not that a circle has a start or a finish.

Horrible wet weather, but at least it's mild. Ysabel and I retreated into the greenhouse and potted on Lavender Hidcote, Lemon Grass and some Basils. The latter are very healthy at present but I suspect the blousy Bolloso Napoletano will suffer in the damp late summer, so the small leaved Fino is probably a better bet for Autumn basil. In both cases I reckoned it was best to plant them on top of a mound of compost in their pots to help air circulate.

The allotment is a mess and the 'orchard' a field: but they're both producing more than I deserve. The swedes are swelling and the kales are many and varied. Yesterday there were three types of endive waiting to be shredded into a salad. Which was fortunate because there's a two week hole in my lettuce succession. Lots of greenhouse tomatoes to dice and cover in a simple balsamic vinegar and basil dressing. The Autumn crops in the garden beds are thriving in this weather. It's definitely a plus to have herbs and salad crops near the house as the weather deteriorates.