RIP Summer

The past week in RCC has been tinged with sadness. We’ve reached that time of year where plants that have been flogging their guts out to feed you for weeks head into full-on suicide-mode right in front of your eyes. Despite the wretchedness surrounding the death of my trusty friends, their departure does signal the arrival of my favourite season, autumn.

What’s not to like about autumn? Crisp air, burnt orange leaves, the return of jumpers, Bonfire night and Strictly Come Dancing on the telly – need I go on?

Only one plant is refusing to accept autumn’s on the horizon and that’s the ass-kickin’ courgettes. The best (and least PC) analogy would be to compare them to a Japanese WWII solider who no-one’s bothered to tell the war’s ended. This morning I did see the beginnings of mildew on their leaves which is a tell-tale sign their days are indeed numbered (shhh – don’t tell them). Mr Swift was heartbroken when he learned they’d have to be pulled in a matter of weeks. Clearly he’s become attached to pole vaulting over the top of them on his way to peg out the washing.

So, this weekend we’ll say goodbye to summer with a massive clean-up operation of uprooting the fallen in order to make room for my least favourite gardening crop – the winter/spring brassicas. Call me fickle but I can’t manage the same level of excitement over cabbages and broccoli. For the sake of the blog I’ll do my best to sound animated.

P.S – get your thinking caps on. The blog is in desperate need of a name change seeing as the walk is well and truly over. The winning suggestion will receive a special prize of my choosing