Bally Mice!!!!!

A visit to the plot just before lunchtime to gather some sweetcorn brought cries of dismay.......! My ten remaining beautiful Tuxedo sweetcorn cobs were all raggedy and eaten. The mice had had all but one of my lovely corn, and even that one was started. We were so disappointed. One sweetcorn cob is not enough for a good lunch for two....even with homemade spelt and oat bread toast!!!!

After lunch I went back down to the plot to continue the tidy up. I took the latest bag of lawn mowings to spread over the bean bed that I cleared last week (2nd photo). This bed will be for spuds next year, as well as the leek bed behind. Also the other bean bed (1st photo) and the ex-sweetcorn bed behind that. I will shortly be spreading the lovely mature manure that's been stacked for a year onto these 4 beds. I'll let the worms do their bit.
When I turn the compost bin I will also load some of the oldest stuff, at the bottom of the bay, onto these beds too. That should produce good spuds next year!
The weedy bank behind these beds has been strimmed by DH and he raked it and stacked the odd rubbish piles from all over the plot ready for my bonfire. We can't have fires between March and October so quite a bit collects up.
I cleared the sweetcorn bed this afternoon (the second bed in this photo) and also had a good tidy up of the brassica bed. The cauli stems I had left in just to see what they would do are now gone, the bed is weeded, and the net checked for holes and replaced. There are still butterflies around and I don't want to risk an attack. The Brussels sprouts are looking good, although some are grown quite big and are "blowing"! I read somewhere what to do about that but have forgotten what it was. Might have been Epsom salts.....anyone know?
So....the end of the plot nearest the shed is quite respectable now.....but as you can see here the top end is a bit of a mess still. I planted out some more purple sprouting broccoli plants, and some more, later, brussels sprouts. The broccoli was a bit eaten when I bought the plants (in fact they let me have them for nothing as there were actually caterpillars on them) and I am hoping that they will recover.

The heap of plant debris here will go into the compost bays when I have emptied the manure from one and turned the other into it. The empty one will then be started all over again with this lot. It is sweetcorn stems, squash and pumpkin bines, and the healthy potato haulms.

The bed in the background is the Desiree potato bed, with enough there for us for most of the winter. Last year we dug them up well into February, so we hope to do the same this year. Our winters are so mild here, and the plot so well draining, that we don't have to dig up and clamp potatoes. We just dig them up when we want them.

Hopefully I can get to the plot next week to carry on the autumn clear-up and get the compost turned.

Now for an evening's sit.