September 2026
This diary is a summary of our garden activities. The links are to blog posts that often give more detail.
Week 36: 01 - 04 September
🌦️ Weather Overview
The week was generally mild but unsettled, with temperatures ranging from 18.5°C to 22.3°C during the day and overnight lows between 12.3°C and 16.2°C.
Rainfall was limited overall. Wednesday and Thursday were dull and threatened showers, but produced only 0.6mm and 0.8mm respectively. Friday brought the week’s most significant rainfall, with 5.8mm falling during the early hours, followed by a windy day with sunny spells.
Total recorded rainfall: 7.2mm
🌱 Key Activities & Observations
The main gardening work this week took place in the home kitchen garden.
- Ivy was cut back from the fence, along with roses growing through it.
- The raised bed was cleared of the remaining tomato plants.
- The bed was thoroughly weeded and dug over, with Growmore fertiliser incorporated into the soil.
- 12 Maystar cauliflower plants were planted in the raised bed.
- 5 Duchy spring cabbage plants were also planted.
- Lime was added when the brassicas were planted.
- A pleasant surprise was finding some figs ready for harvesting.
- A few remaining tomatoes were also rescued from the plants removed from the raised bed.
- The greenhouse continued to produce tomatoes, with Rosella and Summerlast both harvested.
- A small Midas yellow pepper was also picked.
🐕 Trips Out with Ruby & Other Visits
Friday provided a break from gardening when Ruby was taken for an afternoon walk at Nostell Priory.
The windy but brightening weather made it a good opportunity to get out and enjoy the grounds after the unsettled conditions earlier in the week.
- Video published : We take Ruby on a walk around Walton Colliery Country Park
🧺 Weekly Harvest Totals
The harvests this week were relatively small but varied:
| Crop | Amount |
|---|---|
| 🍅 Rosella tomatoes | ½ large punnet |
| 🍅 Summerlast tomatoes | ½ large punnet |
| 🍅 Mixed tomatoes | A few |
| 🫑 Midas pepper | 1 small yellow pepper |
| 🫐 Figs | 1 small punnet |
A useful little harvest despite the changeable weather, with the figs providing an unexpected bonus.
Week 37: 05 - 11 September
🌤️ Weather Overview
Temperatures: Mild and steady throughout the week, with daily highs ranging between 17.6°C and 24.2°C, and night lows dipping down between 5.4°C and 14.5°C.
Rainfall: Very light rainfall overall (totaling ~6.2mm, mostly falling between Sunday and Tuesday).
Note: The light rain kept the soil surface looking damp, but it likely hasn’t penetrated deeply into the ground at the allotment. However, it was enough to turn the allotment grass paths green again, meaning strimming will be needed soon.
🌱 Key Activities & Observations
Planting & Sowing:
Prepared four old recycling crates at home (cleared summer crops, turned soil, and added growmore fertilizer).
Planted 12 White Sprouting Broccoli and 7 Duchy Spring Cabbage plants in the crates.
Garden Maintenance:
Cleared more of the home side border and dug over some of the ground, successfully grubbing up the roots of two large shrubs (requiring a future tip to the recycling centre).
Botanical Displays:
The cyclamen at the allotment are putting on a spectacular display.
🐕 Trips Out with Ruby & Visits
Saturday 5th: Evening walk with Ruby in Springhead Park.
Monday 7th: Took Ruby for a walk at Temple Newsam, followed by a visit to Garforth Garden Centre to buy spring bulbs.
Published video : A Clarkson’s Farm moment at Temple Newsam
Thursday 10th: Day out visiting Belton House with Ruby.
Friday 11th: Morning trip browsing local garden centres looking for spring bulbs and winter garlic.
🧺 Weekly Harvest Totals
Week 38: 12 - 18 September
🌱 Weekly Gardening Summary
12th–18th September 2026
☀️ Weather Overview
The week remained unusually dry for mid-September, with only light showers on several days. Temperatures started warmly, reaching 26.6°C on Monday, before becoming cooler towards the end of the week.
- Warmest: 26.6°C — Monday 14th
- Coolest: 9.8°C overnight — Saturday 12th
- Wettest day: Tuesday 15th — 1.6mm
- Total recorded rainfall: 3.8mm
- Several days had only brief showers, with Friday bringing light rain and blustery winds.
Overall, the dry conditions continued to reduce the need for regular allotment visits, although there is still plenty of autumn tidying and harvesting to complete.
🌿 Key Activities & Observations
Allotment
- Sue removed the remaining Snobaby sweetcorn, harvesting around a dozen small cobs. There may still be a few more to pick depending on the weather.
- A sweetcorn bed and the butternut squash bed were cleared and dug over, leaving the soil exposed to the winter weather to help break it down naturally.
- All the Romance carrots were lifted and brought home for winter storage.
Video: Lifting Romance carrots for winter storage
- Sue continued weeding the new strawberry bed ready for a top dressing. Despite the difficult start caused by the summer drought, the plants are looking healthy.
- One unexpected bonus was finding one ripe strawberry on the newly planted bed.
- The grass paths are growing quickly, although cutting them has taken a lower priority while more important autumn jobs are tackled.
- Grass cutting at the allotment was attempted on Thursday, but showers turned the job into a very wet and messy affair.
- The last cauliflower of the season was harvested on Thursday.
- At home, Sue began planting spring bulbs in the new beds but was forced to abandon the job when more showers arrived.
Home garden
- Grass was cut at home on Tuesday.
- Tomatoes and peppers continued to be harvested from the greenhouse, with some tomatoes being frozen for later use.
Video: Who eats the most hedgehog food?
Looking ahead
There are still several autumn jobs to complete, including:
- Lifting the remaining carrots.
- Picking the remaining apples.
- Preparing for the quince harvest, expected at the beginning of October.
- Continuing to tidy the allotment and prepare beds for winter.
🐕 Trips Out with Ruby & Other Visits
Ruby enjoyed several walks and outings this week:
- Monday: Morning walk to the pastures, followed by an evening visit to Springhead Park.
- Wednesday: A day out with Ruby at Calke Abbey.
Video: Calke Abbey – The Ice House
- Friday: A walk around Temple Newsam, despite the blustery weather.
It was a quieter week for allotment visits, with the focus gradually moving from growing and harvesting towards autumn clearance and preparation.
🧺 Weekly Harvest Totals
| Crop | Weekly total |
|---|---|
| 🍅 Tomatoes — mixed | 2 large punnets + 1 small punnet |
| 🍅 Tomatoes — Summerlast | 4 medium |
| 🫑 Peppers — Midas | 1 small punnet + 1 pepper |
| 🌽 Sweetcorn — Snobaby | ~12 small cobs |
| 🥕 Carrots — Romance | All remaining crop lifted |
| 🥦 Cauliflower — Clapton | 3 large cauliflowers |
| 🥦 Broccolini — unknown variety | 1 large head |
| 🎃 Butternut squash — Hunter | 1 |
| 🥒 Courgette — Defender | 1 large |
| 🍓 Strawberries | 1 |
| 🍎 Apple — Queen Cox | 1 |
| 🍏 Apple — Egremont Russet | 1 |
| 🍐 Pear — Invincible | 1 |
🌾 A Week of Autumn Transition
The allotment is beginning to look decidedly more autumnal. With the sweetcorn and our Romance carrots now dealt with and the last cauliflower harvested, the emphasis is gradually shifting from producing crops to clearing beds, storing the harvest and preparing the ground for next year.
The strawberry plants have survived a difficult summer, and finding that single ripe strawberry on the new bed was a nice little surprise. Meanwhile, there are still apples to pick and the quinces are nearly ready — so there is plenty of harvesting still to come.
Week 39: 19 - 25 September
🌱 Weekly Gardening Summary
September 19th–25th, 2026
🌦️ Weather Overview
The week was mostly dry, with only 0.2 mm of rain recorded on Saturday and no measurable rainfall for the rest of the week. Temperatures were generally mild, although there was a noticeable variation between day and night.
Tuesday was the warmest day at 26.8°C, while Thursday night dropped to a chilly 6.4°C. The prolonged dry spell continued to make watering necessary and was particularly noticeable when lifting the carrots and beetroot.
Overall, it was another dry September week, with some welcome cooler nights but still very little rainfall.
🌿 Key Activities & Observations
Saturday 19th
Sue finished planting bulbs in our two new beds. I tidied the border in front of the greenhouse, creating space for Sue to plant our winter garlic White Casablanca. The new beds and winter brassica beds were watered.
Sunday 20th
We visited the allotment in the afternoon. Although the grass was badly in need of cutting, I decided lifting the remaining carrots was more important while the ground was still dry. The carrots came out cleanly and have now gone into potato sacks in the garage for winter storage.
Sue finished tidying the new strawberry bed and gave it a good watering. We decided not to mulch it yet, hoping that some decent rainfall will arrive first.
We also picked the last of the apples and a cabbage.
Tuesday 22nd
A visit to the allotment was mainly to tackle the grass. All the grass paths were cut, making the plots look much tidier.
Wednesday 23rd
No gardening at home, but I cut back the hedge and buddleia bushes at Judy’s.
Friday 25th
Sue planted hyacinth bulbs in pots for growing in the porch.
At the allotment, we lifted all the beetroot. Unfortunately, the roots were mostly small, with the dry weather clearly having affected the crop. We also picked a large bucket of pears and another of quinces.
A nice surprise was finding two more good-sized cauliflowers ready to cut.
Sue finished weeding and top dressing both strawberry beds. The carrot bed was then dug over. Although it was still dry, the soil was workable and should be in reasonable condition for next spring.
There are still some beds that need covering with weed-control fabric to prevent further weed growth.
🐕 Trips Out with Ruby & Other Visits
🐾 Temple Newsam — Monday 21st
No gardening today, so we took Ruby for a walk around Temple Newsam.
🐾 Nostell Priory — Thursday 24th
Another gardening-free day gave us the opportunity to take Ruby for a walk around Nostell Priory.
🌳 Judy’s — Wednesday 23rd
I spent some time cutting back the hedge and buddleia bushes at Judy’s.
🧺 Weekly Harvest Totals
Allotment & Garden Harvest
| Crop | Harvest |
|---|---|
| 🥕 Sweet Candle carrots | ½ potato sack |
| 🥕 Flakkee carrots | 1 potato sack |
| 🥕 Atomic Red carrots | ¼ potato sack |
| 🥕 Autumn King 2 carrots | ¼ potato sack |
| 🥕 Mixed carrots | A few small roots |
| 🌶️ Buena Mulata chillies | 12 |
| 🌶️ Biquinho Yellow chilli | 1 |
| 🥬 Kilaton cabbage | 1 small head |
| 🥦 Clapton cauliflower | 2 good-sized heads |
| 🥬 Mixed beetroot | Small crop |
| 🍎 Queen Cox apples | ½ small bucket |
| 🍎 Egremont Russet apples | ½ small bucket |
| 🍐 Invincible pears | 1 large bucket |
| 🍐 Meeches Prolific quinces | 1 large bucket |
| 🌽 Snobaby sweetcorn | A few final cobs |
| 🥒 Defender courgettes | 3 large |
| 🍅 Mixed tomatoes – greenhouse | 2 large punnets |
| 🍅 Mixed tomatoes – coldframe | 1 large punnet |
🌱 A Week of Clearing & Preparing
This was another productive week despite the continuing lack of rain. The main job was getting the remaining carrots lifted and safely stored, while the strawberry beds were finished and the carrot bed was cleared and dug over.
The disappointing beetroot crop was a reminder of just how much the prolonged dry weather has affected some crops this year. On the other hand, the late-season cauliflowers, pears and quinces provided some welcome surprises, and the winter garlic, bulbs and hyacinths are already setting the garden up for the months ahead.