I began this blog as a means of charting the progress of the garden. But looking back, I can see two things: first, I have not written about the garden that much; second, I’ve made very little progress with it. I think it is fair to say that the former is linked to the latter.

Back in April and May, those crucial early summer months, I was preoccupied with looming building work which I knew would wreak havoc in the garden, and at the same time our eldest daughter was very, very ill – now, fully recovered. Getting ahead with sowing seeds, and thinking about what I might like to see later in the year, were not a priority. We really only got the garden back at the start of the summer holidays, by which time I’d missed out on tomatoes and courgettes and my beans were looking scraggly and sad.

Late July was not the moment to start landscaping or embarking on grand new planting schemes – the kids wanted to take over, so I let them, and apart from the odd dousing with the hose, I left the garden to look after itself. The garden is now in a very sorry state, so I decided to get ahead with the Autumn tidy-up. But, despite the neglect, there were still pockets of loveliness and I was cheered by this happy combination of Sedum and nasturtium. I was reassured that, although I might have lost my grip on the garden, all is not lost.

And so to the view at the front of the house. Below is my tragic-looking window box. In the spring it was a rather pretty combination of carex and muscari, but for the

entire summer it has just looked dead and awful. But today I noticed green shoots and duly chucked a jug of water on the lot, the first drink they’ve had since March, probably.