Autumn allotment and the last few days

I am used to being busy but this week has been especially so. I had lots to do for my sister's wedding party, which was yesterday - brownie baking, a present of a hen party photo album to finish and the card to make. Harry made a Hama bead heart for the front and stuck on some glittery stickers showing places they had been for their wedding trip - New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco. Harry and Peter did a handprint on the back of the card too.

We had a great morning playing doctors. Harry made plasters from pieces of craft foam and tape and we had a huge queue of toys waiting to be seen with a variety of interesting ailments. I ended up with several plasters too! 

We made banana cake. Harry loved mashing the bananas and he also helped me with chopping for our slow cooker casserole which we made before going to French. 

We spent over an hour on Thursday and Friday in playgrounds, after French and before Harry's enjoy-a-ball class.

We spent yesterday in Harrogate at the wedding party and it was lovely to see lots of family. Harry and Peter were very happy with some gifts from my mum and sister from their travels. 

Today we went to the allotment to start tidying up a little. We cleared the tomato plants from the greenhouses and swept them. They have been a little neglected for the last fortnight or they may have produced for a little longer. We still have a couple of very small peppers growing though.

The sweetcorn was ready! This was particularly exciting as we planted it from seed in pots in the greenhouse and have watched it grow to taller than me. There are around 15 ears and we brought 3 home for tea. Harry really enjoyed the visit today as we have watched all 3 BBC episodes of Harvest 2013 on TV together recently and he was pretending to be the farmers. The programme focused on the harvest of grains, vegetables and fruit and was very interesting as it looked in detail at how the weather of this year and last year affected the harvest and at the growth and evolution of a variety of plants. Harry has always been fascinated in farming - it would be one of his ideal careers at the moment I think! 

Peter occupied himself making a mud patch! 

We potted several more strawberry runners and have over 20 for next year from only 4 original plants. The courgette plants still look good and are flowering and the rhubarb is very healthy after we split it all last autumn. There are mature leeks and parsnips which we will harvest when we need them. Being there today with all the empty beds has got me planning next year!