Idon’t usually pick tomatoes in mid November, but that’s what I did yesterday on my allotment in Didsbury. This mild, frost-free autumn has allowed me to carry on harvesting crops that would normally have succumbed to low temperatures by now.

I also picked some dahlias and marigolds. A bit battered by recent wind and rain, but good enough for a jug on my kitchen table. Amazingly, my sweet peas were still producing the odd bloom too. Their perfume, reminiscent of summer days, seemed strangely out of place competing with the damp, smoky smell of decaying leaves and bonfires.

I pulled up the last of some lettuce – ‘Little Gem’s’ that couldn’t be described as hearty, but still providing me with some tender little leaves for a salad. Those beyond hope were tossed into the compost, together with their incumbent slugs. They can get to work in the heap, where there’s plenty for them to munch on. In went the old french bean plants too – ‘Purple Teepee’, a low bush type that I find reliable, tasty and quick growing. The last handful were picked at the end of October and I’ll miss their appearance at the dinner table.

So that’s another patch cleared and ready for a fork over to remove the weeds. Then I’ll spread a layer of manure over the top and forget about it over the winter.

But first, there’s more to pick before the forecast wind and rain returns. I fill a container with autumn raspberries. They go mushy and mouldy when it’s wet, so I want to gather them to take home and freeze, although a handful will be saved for adding to my breakfast cereal. I decide to leave the Barlotti beans on their wigwam for a few more days. They still look pretty and I don’t have a meal in mind for them at the moment. That’s the thing about gathering in the harvest before the approaching storm – you have to think about how to process it. The Barlotti beans can be eaten fresh or dried and stored, so I’m not worried about them and raspberries freeze really well. I already have tubs of blackberries, red and whitecurrants in the freezer. These ingredients will be used to form a fruit compote at some point over the next couple of months, bringing back the flavour of summer in the middle of winter. Teamed up a with Mascapone ice cream, it will form a totally indulgent pudding moment.