Gathering in

I was relieved, a couple of days ago, to find that although some of the aubergine plants were starting to brown, the fruit had been sufficiently protected by the large leaves to remain undamaged by two nights of unexpected frost. It wasn't forecast, and first frost here is not normally till early November. Now they are all picked, including the tiniest ones, and P has dug up the plants. I grew two varieties this year - our usual Bonica, which give large, shiny dark purple aubergines, and Jackpot, which sounded similar but in fact produced many smaller fruits in a variety of shades, including bright pinkish purple and dark purpley green. It has been our best ever crop - unlike most things, they have loved the hot, dry weather (and been well watered). The squashes have been less successful - we have a few good ones, but the crop is much smaller than usual despite a similar number of plants. The light, creamy ones are pumpkin Polar Bear, which grow reliably here and are good for soup (and Halloween carving), the little orange one is Becky, nice roasted but should be bigger, and the turquoise-grey ones are Crown Prince squash, deliciously dense, orange and sweet but again rather small. There are a couple more of each which might still be growing so have been left in the garden for now, and we've already eaten the sole butternut. The plants were watered throughout the long spring and summer drought, but clearly a can carefully and frugally poured around the roots to keep them alive is not the same as a regular drenching of summer rain. The news this week is of drought forecast to continue throughout winter and into next spring and summer, with reservoir and aquifer levels already critically low and not likely to be replenished by even average winter rainfall. This will be devastating for commercial fruit and vegetable growers and have a major impact on supplies. For us, it will be another year of trekking up and down the garden with watering cans; we save and store what water we can, but it's never enough.