Evenings are drawing in quickly now.

We have to come earlier in the evening for our garden tidying, but the low sunlight makes everything look beautiful.

An evening glow in the garden.

Yes, the Jerusalem Artichokes did flower!

Heliathus tuberosus

Seen in close-up it is obvious that they are a species of sunflower.

The Asturian Tree Cabbages are growing well. Their pale green leaves look good and do not seem to attract pigeons.

Pick one leaf at a time from this unusual Spanish cabbage.

Another colourful leafy vegetable is our chicory. The leaves can be bitter, but become mellow in the colder weather.

Italian chicory or Radicchio

The radishes have almost finished flowering, and are producing succulent crunchy green pods, a tasty addition to any salad.

Radish pods can be eaten even if the radish roots are disappointing.

Late summer tasks

We have planted out some chicory (radicchio) seedlings.Their green outer leaves can taste bitter, but we hope they will heart up over the winter to provid succulent red and white inner  leaves for salads.

Tiny chicory seedlings.

 Dead heading flowering plants is always worth doing, to promote more flowering and to keep the garden looking tidy.

Dead heading can be quite a relaxing activity.

Salad burnet is a useful winter salad herb, as it is perennial and very hardy, almost evergreen. The young leaves have a cucumber taste, and look very attractive, as do the clusters of tiny red flowers.

Salad burnet (sanguisorba minor)