After a very warm and dry beginning of the month, and 19 days without rain it seems this week the weather will change. Although until yesterday the forecast was telling us we’ll be having another above-average warm week, yesterday evening the forecast changed drastically. It seems we’re getting real autumn feel with lower temperatures and finally some decent rain. 

Since I didn’t do anything last week, thinking I could afford a few more days to feel better, today I had a really early start getting up at 5am to make lunch for my hubby who’s working 2nd shift, and then I went to the garden as soon as there was enough light to work (6am). I had to deep dig the new spring bulb bed. The soil is very dry so it was a bit hard to dig, but I managed to do it. There’s lots of grass since this soil wasn’t dug in over 10 years, but I’ll deal with it after the rain, while I’ll be digging it once again. I’ve damaged the grassroots with today’s digging so the grass will dry up today and then I’ll just pull the remaining plants. 

After the digging, I did a quick harvest since I have no idea how wet the garden will be or when I’ll be able to get in the garden. A good shower or two tomorrow and I’ll be out of the garden for at least 3 days.

Along with the already standard bean, carrot, raspberry, and pepper harvest I’ve also harvested some young leeks which I’ll store in the freezer. I’ve also harvested some apples. The end of September is a perfect time to start harvesting our apples. The leaves are already falling so they are easy to spot and they will still stay healthy enough to harvest only the amount we’ll eat.

Apples look really amazing this year, some of them are huge, also there aren’t many sick or rotten ones.

While I was harvesting I was really surprised to see that there are still some cucumbers growing. Like I said last week, I really thought they were over. 

The plants are almost nonexistent, with no leaves and completely dry, but there are still some flowers and new fruits appearing. 

Another good thing is that the kale finally stopped growing like mad. It’s been over 2 weeks now since the last harvest and it’s still not ready for a new one. I can’t say I’m sorry for this, we really had enough kale this year.

After the harvest, I run home to deal with the laundry. It seems smart to wash everything early today so that it can dry on the balcony and also I have to prepare the balcony for tomorrow. When the rain comes from the south and is followed by some stronger wind my balcony is completely soaked. So it’s time to bring in the plants that don’t like the cold, delicate seedlings and collect the cushions and blankets. I have a feeling we won’t need them outside anymore. Autumn is coming.