What a wet month! It’s been weeks of random downpours and wind fuelled rain. The allotment has a real windswept and weather beaten look to it, and our visits to the plot have often been cut short by inclement weather.

November , despite the weather, has given us some crops to harvest. In this period of the year a few plants come to the fore, with chard and beetroot being highlights. The chard has gone into a number of dishes including a warming chard pilaf. I love the way this beet brightens up the allotment with its rainbow coloured stems punctuating the slightly drab look of the plot in November. The last of the beetroot has been eaten too (I must plant more next year), going into a roasted vegetable salad with goats cheese. I’ve still got some squash stored in the greenhouse and they’ve gone into soups, pasta dishes and a great version of Leon’s Dalston Sweet Potato Curry (replacing the sweet tubers with roasted squash). Cabbage and Jerusalem Artichokes are also making their way onto our dinner plates, allowing us to enjoy their earthy flavours.

At this time of year there is not much to be sowing until the spring. The last few bulbs will go in (tulips) in the next day or so, but even then its possibly a bit too late and we’ll have to see what comes up in the new year. Instead of sowing, its time to sit down with a cup of tea and the seed catalogues; allowing myself time to dream about next year.

With the promise from the forecasters of more rain and wind this month, the chance to get on the soil has gone. Instead, the jobs are more about tidying up from the year past. Tools will need a clean and the shed could do with a tidy too. I’ll continue to put food out for the birds, and make sure that crops that need it are protected from the frost and wet. It’s also time to spruce up the shed, finishing the job of lining it with insulation and internal cladding and giving it lick of paint. All of which can be done with copious cups of tea made on the wood burner.

This post is contributing to The Garden Share Collective; an international group of bloggers who share their vegetable patches, container gardens and the herbs they grow on their window sills.