This is the new culinary patch, with chive flowers going over and the Greek oregano completely overwhelming the lemon thyme.

The knot garden is beginning to show its potential a bit more. The santolina to the right and back has bushed up enormously and the blue hyssop is almost there. The southernwood and rosemary are more mixed – some of the plants have done really well, and others are somewhat slower. In the four panels are clary sage in front, just beginning to show bracts in a very exciting purple, ammi majus at the backwhich has flower buds but no colour yet, carthamus (safflower) to the right and a mix of marigold and poppy to the left. Actually it was supposed to be just marigolds, sowed quite densely, I thought, but germination was erratic and the poppies arrived by themselves. I can never bring myself to get rid of poppies.

This is the chamomile lawn with the first flowerbuds just showing. You can also see plants of violet, foxgloves, feverfew, angelica and horehound. Some of them were deliberate!And this is the stock bed with costmary, carnation, a lovely lavender stoechas (I think it is Madrid blue) and hyssop. Beyond it is the pond, surrounded by meadowsweet and yellow flag. It is all getting out of control, needs serious weeding and cutting back, but I love it at this time of year. It is so lush and whole-hearted in its determination to take over!

All the birds are fledged now, except the chicks in the black-backed gull colony, and the swallows and housemartins. I’m not sure how the latter will get on, as they tend to get stolen by the gull parents. This means there isn’t quite the birdsong there was a few eeks back, except for the wrens, who are still singing their hearts out – and the curlew I heard last week. Usually they are out on Flanders Moss by now, but there was one heading downstream as I was hanging out the washing. It was wonderful!