August – and green is already fading changing increasingly to yellows and browns. Everything has become really dried out, even dull days bring no rain.

 

The grass carp have arrived – after the lochan is weeded out again, regrowth having been so copious. A new footbridge is constructed at the top corner of the lochan where old one was starting to subside and become hazardous. This one is made of larch so should last for a long time.

 

The Top pond is also weeded out – mostly of elodia and blanket weed, which had seemed to be under control, or at least not quite so rampant.

 

The Middle pond and Temple pool are tidied but the main problem here is water levels. The spring supply has become very erratic following the long dry spell. The Top pond which effectively feeds the whole system lower down from the aqueduct overflow is just maintaining its own level and so no surplus makes it to the rest of the water courses. It is a struggle to see and deal with this situation. Long term the only solution has to be an additional source, by means of a bore hole or other system. Incredible as it may seem, we are subject to the effects of climate change here on the top of a Scottish hillside.

 

A few things are lifted as crops from the Kailyard and Allotment and tidied, filler crops mostly salads are put in to keep things looking good for the remainder of the season.

 

Endless willow herb always manages to pop up again in inaccessible corners or where it has been missed in earlier clearances, nettles and robin-run-the-hedge is pulled out in clumps from banks of the waterways.

 

There is a thorough tidy by the Claudi pool, so the rhubarb is cleared, surrounding the referenced scene, the signed landscape. Huff lane is clipped and overhanging growth and branches removed along by the Gates / Stiles path, so that easy access is maintained to the sequence of slate benches here.

 

In Julie’s garden the yew hedge is trimmed back, sweet cecily is cut down, roses pruned and a lot of ivy which was choking the rowans removed, so that the ceramic lovers plaques can now be seen clearly. New dandelions are put in the Horloge de Flore planter, weeded out gaps in the beds here are filled with white campion.

 

The strawberry planters have been very unproductive this season, in contrast to blackberries and cherries which have been prolific. Brambles have ripened in the late surge of sunny weather. Raspberry beds at the Kailyard and Front garden are tidied out having now finished.

 

The front Sunken garden is cleared around artworks where it has been getting a bit overgrown. A new formality for this area seems a good option long term, the side walls redone, the ground level completely cleared and then start again. Any planting which has been tried to date has ultimately failed – it is an important little area in the history and construction of the garden, so deserves proper attention again.

 

The heather is blooming on hillside – a purply boon for the bees. A few perennials are already tired and going over – some more fillers are put in. The shady bed at the front hedge and Hortus are tidied, as is the front of the Temple of Apollo, just to keep things in check which are going over or growing straggly.

 

We have another storm Floris at the start of the month – our losses this time only one birch by the Claudi bridge and Cogitatio urn (A thought hidden beneath the shade of Latin) and no further damage. For the most part it has been a few stretched out weeks of late productiveness, of light and shade.