COLUMN: Did you know I picked my last handful of runner beans on Halloween this year? It's amazing.
They were delicious and would have bankrupt me if I'd had to (heaven forbid!) buy them.
But frost arrived with November and the curtain came down on the main growing season.
It was time to tie my hair back, swoop in and clear up the wilting, dying plants, collect the last of my French bean seed and prepare my ground for winter.
"It won't take very long," I fooled myself at 9am on a cold, dry Sunday morning. So, what happened?
Well, I just couldn't tear myself away. Far from the heaving crowds starting their Christmas shopping, I was in heaven. It was a still day with a touch of crispness in the air, the odd hot air balloon drifting over me and I felt at peace. It was just me and my allotment.
The first casualties of my day were the runner bean plants. Tugging the stubborn canes from the ground and wincing as I heard a few of the older ones snap with rot, the poor beans dropped to the ground. I left them there not because I'm lazy, but because they are nitrogen-packed plants.
Pull up a bean root and you'll find it covered in tiny nodules which produce nitrogen for the plant's nourishment. Leave in the ground and they will break down, releasing the nitrogen back into the soil to fertilise it ready for spring. You can't beat a natural fertiliser.
Many plants later, I finally reached the courgettes. Remember my tale about the prickly pumpkin plants in my last column? Well, courgettes have equally painful spikes.
But I was ready. Armed with a pair of shears, I snapped away. Each part of the plant fell away with a delightful crunch despite their armour, the insides are hollow to carry ample supplies of water.
Cut into powerless small bits, I loaded the little devils into my wheelbarrow along with a massive pile of foliage and wobbled up the narrow raised path to the compost heap.
Looking sadly bare, I tucked my allotment up for the winter in cosy black groundcover to stop the weeds taking over. All done and dug by 1pm.
So why didn't I get home until late? Well, I got out a flask of steaming tomato soup and sat in the the winter sun joined by a friendly robin. As I fed him crumbs from my bread roll, relaxing, I thought about all the things I've achieved on my allotment and smiled.
I was totally and blissfully happy. Here's to next year!
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