This is the time of year to say blog off, there is too much to do. There are so many delicious plums, apples and now pears to pick, preserve, savour and store. Time spent on the computer is time lost with Lottie. It is also THE time to save seeds.

There is no time to reminisce, to reflect on fading summer and the warm sunny days, faces aglow and feeling good all over. It’s not the time to write blogs or even to write bhogg off (BHOGG is one of my favourite local community groups, that has been helping me thank the sun by consuming the fruits of its labour).

Its surprising how many friend you rediscover with delicious pink discovery apples, mellifluous melting green gages or conference pears that gather together to conspire when to ripen. Of course there is the occasional apple with added protein, the split plum or the pear with a bird peck. There is not the pretty packaging or the homogenised planting, sanitized spraying or tescoised grading where 40% of all fruit has to be discarded. It is real organic life. Organisations like Harvest and the Food Partnership campaign to ensure that old English orchards are not ploughed into the soil to give way to chilled Chilean or sterilised Australian apples; they need support in their campaigns to promote home grown delights.

My taste buds are bursting with flavours. Yes there is the slurp of juicy plums and the crunch of munchy apples. But I lick my lips as my newly found friends have been returning with loganberry jams, quince jellies, plum and pear chutneys and apple cakes, home made at the weekends, to give sustenance to working weeks ahead. Eat your heart out Asda… if you have one.

Now is a very good time to save seed, save money and save your successes for next year. Look at a really helpful website like Seedy Sunday www.seedysunday.org for good advice, pick a day when seeds should be relatively dry and go forth and save seeds. There is also a seed saving course organised at the end of this month by Harvest. There are only a few places left so if you are interested do book soon and you might be surprised who you see.

It is such a delight to have a fruitful allotment; surely more space can be found in Brighton for others. I think of all those who want to cultivate an allotment with fruit trees and cannot do so. Yes food and health costs will grow and grow in the future, but allotments are also about communities about growing our quality of life and green living.

Now I must blog off.