Slugs seem to dominate my life! My husband suggested we rename the house “Slug Haven”! Nightly searches continued to rescue individual plants. As I walked across the lawn in July it was littered with hundreds of slugs. Obviously, my garden is far too good a habitat and the word has got out!

One courgette remains within the battlement of a six inch high copper mesh barrier with slug deterrent pellets piled around. Even egg shells are deployed around the barrier, though this likely provides nourishment for another creature – the dog.

However, the inner leaves of the courgette are not within reach of the slugs and I remain hopeful. I may one day get a courgette. I’m thinking next year I shall grow one in the greenhouse for better control, and in fact have tried this with a last minute planting of a courgette seed at the end of the tomato row. I couldn’t believe that on the first night of sowing, I checked the greenhouse to find something had dug a hole where the seed had been sown already! A mouse probably. Wire netting now deployed.

Two new potatoes appeared on the lawn and heavy wire mesh was laid over the potato bed. Not securely enough, done in a hurry, and now all have been dug up. Just five tiny potatoes left in the ground, thanks to the dog!

Butterfly numbers improved slightly at the end of July as the weather improved again. I started to see Gatekeeper butterflies as the season progressed, then, at last, Red Admirals appeared on the Buddleia beginning of August. The cucumbers were taking over the greenhouse, making a bid for the roof vent and the door. Even the courgette had three fruits and the glorious gold of Evening Primrose greeted me every morning. Squirrels were now occupied with harvesting hazelnuts and thrush and blackbird fed on honeysuckle berries.

August was much more relaxing and hot afternoons provided a good excuse to watch the Olympics. Time also to clear the garden room out, but the mice had done an incredible demolition job on the recliner cushions packed away for winter. A bed so comfortable, that as my husband passed the cushions down to me and I carried them out of the garden room, three mice jumped out giving me a fright! The labrador looked up slowly and sniffed the air; “what was that?” The mice were long gone. A terrier would have caught them mid-flight!

By H.W