Here’s the news from central Perthshire:

Garden pests

Runner beans are not immune from rabbits, as courgettes and broad beans are, but they’re not a top favourite either. Two of the six in my tepee have suffered; the other four are doing rather well. The first flowers are open. (In southern England, the quantity of the runner bean harvest begins to get embarrassing, this time of year. I’m doing well to have a crop in September.)

Rabbits don’t even look at Good King Henry. I expected that.

When I did my day-trip on July 16, the Summer Pudding bush was laden with fruit. I was anxious that it might be a bit over-ripe when we got back. I needn’t have worried. By July 24 birds had got underneath the netting and stripped the bush clean. I was able to buy red currants from a local grower who doesn’t grow under plastic and we had our pudding, but it was a disappointment. The birds are at work on the white currants – in previous years, they have left those untouched.

Other results

The mange-tout peas are on stream, and rather tasty. They are one of the three vegetables I can actually grow. All the rest of this fine talk is piffle before the wind. (The other two vegetables are broad beans and potatoes. Fortunately we love all three.)

I am much afflicted – perhaps all vegetable-growers are – with things that come up and Then Just Sit There. This is a picture of a row of Swiss chard. It looks perfectly cheerful, but this represents three months’ growth and we’ve only got about six weeks to go. The same has happened, this year, with beetroot – I tried four different varieties; radishes; perpetual spinach.

Bought-in plants, on the other hand, have done surprisingly well. Maybe that’s the answer? Rachel's husband Ed, in south London, buys in a lot of plug plants. It would restrict one's choice of varieties, but that's a fair trade-off if it results in an actual crop. Here are Brussels sprouts and (in the background) cabbages of some sort. And a bought-in lettuce, in front. The surprising thing, apart from the fact that they are growing, is that there are no cabbage white caterpillars yet. Speaking of pests.

Here is my fruit hedge. The idea is a row of black currants, white currants, and gooseberries to the left – gooseberries, so far, a total failure – and a row of autumn raspberries to the right. I sprinkle wild flower seed in the gap in between. The raspberries, as you see, are ambitious to take over the world. They are not allowed to spread in any other direction, but I have let them overrun the wildflower section.

And here are my artichokes, surrounded by their Stout mulch. They are growing, although not much. All they have got to do this year is get big enough and strong enough to get through the winter.

As for knitting, I had a lovely time with the Japanese shirt while we were away, and back here, last night, I reached round 77 of the Mourning Shawl border.