One minute it was autumn, the next it was full blown biblical winter. Dark skies, rain, wind, floods and locusts falling from the sky. You might normally get the odd occasional heavy rain causing the road outside to turn into a river, throughout most of November it has been like this multiple times a day.

There was a rare sunny morning that I ventured out; I had the day off work, and everything seemed to align for the first visit in many weeks, maybe this month. The plot had suffered in my absence.

The last visit I had cut down the field beans, dug them in a bit and planted some broad beans. The broad beans have yet to come up. The rest of the cut down field beans were still on the ground, some had started to regrow. I cut them up and dug them in too. Some people say just leave them on the surface and over time they the worms will work them into the soil. I’m sure they will after many months, in much the same way as fallen leaves do, but it would surely take way too long. Someone must had mentioned it on Instagram last year as suddenly loads of plots were covered in fallen leaves, waiting for the worms which unfortunately (for the rest of us?) lost out to the wind which spread them all over the place.

All the brassicas have been suffering with the wind and rain. I had meant to stake up the broccoli and purple sprouting at the beginning of the month but it never happened. Since then they have started to produce and we were able to cut our first bits of broccoli even through they were leaning all over the place. I tidied them up, weeded around and repositioned them all back upright, sorted out the netting. I have the sprouts to do next, but I didn’t have time on this visit.

The leeks I have given up on, there are only about a couple remaining that might be any good. As one of the “big harvests” it isn’t going to be much, if a harvest at all.

I ended up with one half of the plot back to normal and looking a lot better, the other half will have to wait for another break from the rain and locusts. I did get some woodchip to redo one of the paths, I need to do some of the others after I have scooped up the rotted down wood chip that is currently there and added to the compost. With last year’s compost bin I have it a bit of a dig around to help it along its way.

I came home with:

• brocolli
• beetroot