After a lot of rain, there was a total of 3 litres of water in my buckets, but the pond was still as low as usual. When I pressed the patch on the beach, water came out from behind it, so clearly the UHU has not worked.

I cut down more borage, taking it down to where new buds have formed. I don’t want the mess and the seed drop, but I’m happy to let the bees have flowers for a while yet. The robin followed me around the garden as I worked.

Brambles are suddenly everywhere, with feet-long branches coming through the trellis and even through the apple tree to the ground. I’ve cut back an amount, but it’s going to be a proper ladder job to take them back to the fence.

The larkspur in the woodland bed is still flowering. I’m delighted it’s finally grown here and now it can seed down for colour in late summer next year.

There’s a little blight on Roma, so I’m just picking them as soon as they are a bit red and come off the branch easily. There’s still a reasonable harvest on the Red Alerts, though those plants aren’t looking amazing now either.

I also took home some  apples and pears to test – both picked and windfall. I’ve cleared up the rest of the windfalls to try and keep the crows away. I imagine they’re the ones responsible for picking a hole in the earwig shelter.

I scooped up the molehills as best I could in the long grass and made a little effort to refill the holes. I’ve kept the gathered soil in a bucket in the shed, so it’s available for further repair work as needed. I’m not sure if it’s ruining my oca. It’s gone all around the edges of the bed and there’s  a hill in the bed too.

I’ve given up on the sweet peas now. They would have lasted well a bit longer if I hadn’t let the deadheading go over Salzburg/Covid. I think I might do them next year now I’ve had some success.

I cut back the everlasting pea on the trellis and found a dead rat on the ground. Good to know the poison works, but it could have wandered off further to cark it.

Just before leaving I decided to get rid of the cosmos, but just pulled them up and put them on the compost heap as is. There’s been a very leafy nasturtium growing on the heap and it now has cabbage white eggs on the leaves.