Is it slowing?

There is a definite decrease in light now we're a week away from equinox.  Still fairly warm and dry but things are slowing down, with a noticeable downturn in tomatoes, zucs and pickling cucs.  The salad cucs however are still producing pretty heavily--I've resorted to giving them away at work, in addition to eating them every day.  However, I expect a sharp drop off fairly soon, with lower and lower light.

At the allotment I managed to make a second pass with my fork for grass roots in the now harvested kohlrabi bed;  the son then piled on four wheelbarrows of wood chips.  I'll leave this bed deep mulched and unplanted until spring:  it's the first time I've had an empty bed since last winter.  Hopefully by the end of October I'll have finished clearing away the other summer/autumn beds:  squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, onions, fennel.  

But don't worry, *I still have a lot of veg growing for winter and spring.  My overwintering beds have Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, komatsuna, leeks, beets, carrots, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli, winter radish, Chinese cabbage and pak choi.  I even have an experimental mange tout pea bed for overwintering (I left the vines on the chicken house roof to dry the pods, but they got rained on and sprouted).  In fact, only a few will be cleared:  most of my beds at the allotment will carry on growing throughout winter.  

Thankfully my hard work is also on a downturn, at least until next spring.  Winter crops are mostly harvested as needed, not all at once like a lot of summer crops (though I had to pick all my early leeks after first frost last November).  The one crop I'll harvest all at once--squash--simply stores as is, without any extra effort.

*And have I mentioned that my fridge, freezer, cupboards, countertops and floor are also all full??