WELL, that's it, it's official then, summer has come to an end.

We have passed the autumn equinox, the first bands of heavy, sustained rain have hit us, the amber-tinged leaves are starting to float down from the trees, and, most tellingly of all, Stokesley show is over.

For me, the show always heralds a change in the horticultural season. The late summer culminates in the harvesting of all the best and most unusual fruit and vegetables for our annual display.

For weeks beforehand, we run around the Nature's World site desperately trying to prevent trainees and visitors from taking apples from the trees, tomatoes off the vines and potatoes from the ground. It seems mean, as there is always an abundance of produce at this time of year. The trainees are usually allowed to take home a moderate amount of surplus vegetables, as it is they who have sown, planted and nurtured it all. In addition, we do encourage people to touch, taste and try most things we grow on the grounds, but now and again, the odd person will take advantage of our good nature.

I had to have stern words (well, stern for me, as I am not very good at being tough), with a woman who had loaded her pram with two bin bags full of our goods. She even had to back her car up to the gates, the bags had become so heavy. She claims that she had permission to pick up all the windfalls. Well, there must have been a hurricane moments before she went round the site. However, she has promised to bake a few apple pies and bring them in for myself and the trainees.

For us, the show itself was a huge success. We never go with the intention of selling anything, but purely hope to promote the centre and its environmental message. This means that we don't have as much pressure hanging over us as most of the other horticultural exhibitors. It does mean that we spend the whole day meeting and chatting to a whole host of interesting, informative and animated people.

It's usually the children who notice us first. They come running up to our large picture display and shout excitedly about the time that they visited with their school. They then digitally explore all the strange vegetables that are in the fresh harvest display. The beans proved to be the most popular this year.

I always leave a dozen runner bean bushes to go to seed. The shiny purple and pink seeds that pop out of the papery pods are like jewels to a small child. They just have to touch and feel them. Next spring, I will put them back in the soil. For some reason, beans grown from last year's seeds seem to produce a better crop than shop-bought beans.

I did manage to escape for a half hour or so and wander around the other stalls. The plant of the moment seemed to be a tall, striped grass of the miscanthus family. The black bamboo was another favourite, along with the penstemons and the crimson crocosmia. The blood red gladioli 'Zorro' caught my eye.

The bonsai societies had put on a marvellous display. I have mixed feelings about bonsai. I admire the skill, but the several attempts I have made myself have resulted in repeated accidental murder.

It is the right time of the year to collect seeds and seedlings for growing on into young bonsai plants. Acorns, sycamores, helicopters and conkers will take very easily if left in a well-watered pot of mixed soil and compost. I will be collecting the seeds, but will be growing them on into their true-sized versions. After all, it is one of those tasks that defines and describes autumn.

JOBS THIS WEEK

Sow hardy annuals

Some of the hardy annuals thrive on being sown in the warm, wet September soil. These include love in a mist, Shirley poppies, Clarkia, cornflower and larkspur. Ideally, they should be sown where they are to flower, but they can be sown in a quiet corner and transferred in March.

Take cuttings of summer bedding plants

Pelargoniums, fuschias and petunias can all be propagated from cuttings taken now from the parent plant and tended over winter in the greenhouse. Take 3-6 inch cutting, chopping just below the junction of leaf and stem. Place up to six cuttings in a six-inch pot filled with a mixture of compost and fine gravel.

Replant pinks

Pinks that have grown straggly over the summer can be dug out, split and replanted. The new plants will soon bush out healthily, especially if a little sand or grit is added to the soil.

READER'S QUESTION

MR Holt from Bishop Auckland has lost most of his cucumbers this year. The plants seemed to die off from the bottom of the stems. Is it something in the soil, insects or lack of feed?

It sounds as though your plants are suffering from foot and root rot. It is a fungus that attacks any soft-stemmed plant, and is likely to have built up in the soil.There is no cure for the condition. It is best to destroy them all, along with the soil. When watering, try to use tap water and not water from a butt, as the fungal organism can hide and colonise in that environment too.

Brigid will be taking your calls from 12-2pm on the Sunday 'Ask about gardening' show on BBC Radio Cleveland, 95FM. Send your questions to be answered in The Northern Echo to brigidpress67.freeserve.co.uk or write to her c/o Nature's World, Ladgate Lane, Acklam, Middlesbrough.