September's nearly over!

I had Andrew all to myself on Sunday, which was lovely. We took a picnic to the Lottie but the weather was so nice we decided to go for a drive up the Antrim Coast, find a beach and run about on it with Maggie - it could be the last time we get a day like that this year. Don't worry, the allotment was still on our minds and we listened to Gardeners' Question Time on the way up (how embarrassing), there was a special on about contaminated manure. Funny thing is, as soon as we arrived at Waterfoot beach it began to pour! We ran up and down the beach in the rain, laughing and got back to the car soaked. Then, in the car again, the rain stopped, couldn't believe it.

Anyway, we had to go back to the Allotment before dinner time - the Runner Beans had to go, it had been bothering me. Over the past week or so they haven't been producing good quality beans at all, they've been distorted and twisted etc, the plants had obviously come to the end of their wee lives.

I got the honours and took to them with the scissors.

So all we have left in there are the roots of the bean plants (nitrogen fixers) and our very healthy but as yet barren, strawberry plants. I think, but to be honest I'm not sure, that next time it will be brassicas in this bed, again I'll be corrected if wrong. In the other bed you can see in these photos is one of the old potato beds, we have green manure growing in there, doing very well, if only all crops would grow as readily.

Sad thing about working on the lottie yesterday was I got no pleasure from it at all. Even though I had been looking forward to getting down there, especially with a job to do. After cutting down the beans and bagging up the stems etc, we just went home - I was too sick. Very weepy and when one of our lesser known neighbours came over to chat, I felt nervous and sick too. A good sleep helped though, curled up on the sofa with my blanket and then an Andrew-made dinner.

It's funny (not in a haha way of course) when that happens - when I feel worse for being out, even somewhere I love. It was quite dull then, I suppose and the week had been weighing on me so that didn't help, but I usually get a boost there. Odd.

I'm changing my profile picture to a portrait of me on the shed step, when I was feeling a bit better (Sunday Lunchtime). Here's a self portrait of me and Maggie taken on the lottie shed step too. Doesn't she look fine?! She knows how to work the camera.