This morning’s bright, clear dawn marks an important  seasonal shift as the ratio of day to night tips towards the Dark Side.

It’s easy to feel despondent as another busy summer draws to a close but savour this beautiful September weather – the gentle, buttery sunlight on your plants and the beautiful shadows it casts.

You can swap your sunscreen for thermal vests but there’s plenty to do in the garden.  There’s dead-heading and tidying (remembering to leave seed heads and some cover for birds and wildlife), bulb-planting and there’s still time to sew some green manure on empty beds.  I increasingly find myself thinking ahead to next year: planning my crop rotation and reflecting on things that didn’t work so well and how I might improve them.

We’ve already discussed which new vegetables we’ll try to shoe-horn into the plot: swede and onion sets will need space and I’m already wondering where to put my November planting of garlic. We’re still harvesting plenty of tomatoes and courgettes and the aubergines are staggering on despite the pestilence visited upon them.

I’m feeling ready for soups and hearty autumn recipes with root vegetables, pumpkins, cabbage and kale.