Two Week Catch Up!!

I wonder where those 2 weeks went to?! I know the birthday celebrations went on a bit, I have been away for a few days (will do a post on my trip to Limerick ).
I had a chest infection and have been off the cigarettes now for 7 days (who is counting?), not being able to breathe is as good a reason as any to give 'em up! Sitting at the computer has been curtailed as I would automatically reach for a cigarette.
I did not go to the allotment last week as I did not feel up to it so this morning I did remember to take the camera and also do some winter tidying up. The harvest is winter warming veg, carrots, parsnips and cabbage, most of which have now been added to a big pot of soup which is cooling before blitzing with the blender.
Would Pirates of the Caribbean like some real life veg from Davy Jones locker? These are what grew of our Celeriac plants, the photo makes them look quite large but they are less than golf ball size in reality!I added one of them to my pot of soup just to make them feel wanted.
I just liked the look of these late flowering plants, the late bees are hovering around them.There is blue Borage in the front, yellow Calendula and swiss Chard.
The strawberry plants are still producing?! They are not as sweet as the sun ripened ones of summer but are tasty anyway.I had tidied up the plants for winter so do I now repeat this process again...cutting back brown foliage etc?
I removed the netting from the fruit bed and cut back this years raspberry canes, I also cut out any canes that were spindly or growing too closely together.They need to be tied now to withstand winter gales.The whole bed will be weeded and covered with a mulch of manure for the winter months
The autumn fruiting raspberries continue to surprise.There are two bushes of Blissy Autumn Bliss, one is producing fruit and the other is not even though both were bought and planted at the same time.
I pruned back the blackcurrant bush also, taking about 1 third of the old growth and opening up the centre of the bush.
The brussel sprouts will not last until Christmas I think, I wonder if they are an early harvesting variety or has it been the mild weather this year. I will have to poke out the seed packets to check.
Snapdragons are still blooming around the plot and at home. I wanted to get a snap of the colours of this particular one as it is beautiful.

I was driving out the laneway from the allotments when I came across 3 pheasants strolling down in front of me, they ignored me for a few minutes until I got out the camera then they bolted so I only caught 2 of them on camera.