End of seasonish

The tunnel house is starting to look very much past its glorious best The tomato plants (on the left) are still bearing fruit, but the leaves are starting to droop and lose their colour. The cucumber and squash vines (on the right) are definitely getting thinner and won't last too much longer. 

I picked five cucumbers today, and noticed only three or four more misshapen ones growing. It has been a wonderful crop, so I have no complaints at all. 

The butternut squashes are almost ready to harvest: seven from the one plant. They always do better in the tunnel than outside (where I get an average of five per plant) but there is only space for one to grow in there. Unless I cut down the number of sweetcorn, which won't happen. 

The over-wintering brassicas (far right) are growing fast, and I am very pleased I planted them three weeks early to give them a good start - and hopefully they will mature earlier than the last couple of years.

Bean is sulking today because it is 48 hours since we had any sunshine. She has buried herself in blankets and looks set to stay in her nest for the rest of the day. She pulls her head out with reluctance when I go into the truck, looks at me balefully and then disappears again. But I have a feeling that the promise of food later on will change her attitude...

She is going to have a real treat on Sunday or Monday. I have just arranged to spend the day with Willow-the-dog's owners. Bean and Willow will be beside themselves with joy. 

Today I have been cheering on Harvard. And rolling my eyes repeatedly at the "top news" of the all female crew of so-called new astronauts screeching and performing, beautifully summed up in this article in today's Guardian.

“These women, who have placed themselves as representatives for all women with their promotion of the flight – positioning themselves as aspirational models of femininity – have presented a profoundly antifeminist vision of what womankind’s future is: dependent on men, confined to triviality, and deeply, deeply silly”