It’s time to start the autumn tidy up in the front ornamental garden and also in the vegetable plot.  Huge courgette plants are pulled out and, hey presto, underneath them the rhubarb plants reappaar with minimal damage.  The last of the cucumbers are placed into pickling jars and their exhausted stems thrown onto the compost heap to nourish the ground for next year’s planting.  I have fun wielding the electric hedge trimmer and attack the bushes with great enthusiasm.  I hope they will recover and thrive after their heavy autumn “hair cut”.