It was dull and oddly humid last Saturday, but a number of very interested visitors and helpers came to see our edible growing garden as part of Big Dig Day. Our total tally was probably only about 20, as compared with 50 on some previous occasions.

We didn’t publicise widely, and our usual procedures of putting up laminated A4 posters around the area and leaving lots of leaflets for people to pick up at the plot as they leave the station, were undermined this year by the heavy rains and winds during the preceding week. But we particularly enjoyed welcoming young children to the garden. We were also able to have some long conversations with some visitors, and with each other, and we got some gardening work done. The climbing beans are cleared; we’ve propagated rosemary and pinks.

We picked some of our apples (Tinsley Quince and Mannington’s Pearmain) for the occasion and set up samples of these varieties to taste, along with Emily’s Dad’s orchard apples from Horsted Keynes and Elspeth’s cocktail Discovery apples. Rather surprisingly, the Discovery apples (‘cocktail’ because they are very small from my minaret tree) seemed to be the most popular, perhaps because they were sweetest.

Although our Sussex apples are dessert apples, we have picked a few early, so they may be a bit (refreshingly?) tart. What is certain is that they are very large but also very crisp – a lovely combination. And intriguingly different in taste: several of us described the pleasant ‘quincey’ after-taste of the Tinsley Quince as rather like a chardonnay wine. We still have quite a few ripening for our Harvest supper (crumble?) in mid-October.

Our other attraction on Saturday was the raspberries. Harvest’s canes have established themselves very happily, so much so that we have had to spend time trying to keep them in order. Our crop has been so productive that each of us thought we must be the only person picking. We still had raspberries on Saturday for visitors to pick. Perhaps the biggest attraction of all to sample, AFTER the tart apples: Angie’s raspberry and chocolate brownies, for which our squashy autumn raspberries were perfect (recipe to follow).

The raspberry cane growing in a large pot with the base cut out seems to be doing particularly well, and – true to Harvest’s original aim for these canes – it is growing out to the ‘public’ side of the fencing so that passers-by can pick raspberries. Given that our space is at a premium, we thought it might be a good idea to move all the canes from the back raised bed into containers (with base cut out), which could be placed along the fencing. Canes could then grow out along the fencing – and we could use the raised bed for more delicate planting such as spinach and rhubarb (not happy in competition with the raspberries) which will tolerate a little shade in the afternoon.

I think this may have been be our last official Big Dig Open Day. It’s been great being part of the project, giving us motivation to focus on opening up the garden and thinking about how to share it with our neighbours and visitors. I’m sure we will continue with open events: seed sowing in the spring, clearing and produce-tasting in the autumn.