I got some last-minute leeks planted out the other day; hopefully they'll do something. i'm not planting out much apart from alliums though. I want to keep plenty of space for tender veg next summer, since that's what the family likes. Meanwhile I'm steadily getting the uncultivated beds knocked into shape. Despite the discouragements of the awful summer, I am at least in a good position to knock some more ground into shape before spring.

I've been pulling out the remains of some of the Great Mullein; it's a weed I tolerate for its dramatic, if too narrow, spikes of bloom. This year, for once, it wasn't devastated by mullein moth, and flourished correspondingly. I only want it down one side of the garden though, as it's too massive to be throwing up six-foot spires among dwarf plants. It's a biennial, and easily removed wherever it's unwelcome. Borage, which is grown commercially for starflower oil, is doing rather too well as always. It gets covered in bees, and I don't mind it as long as it's not smothering my crops. It's an annual, and once again, it's easily pulled out where it's not wanted. I just wish the veg. would do as well!

I'm slowly catching up with the hedge trimming. It's a horrible job, especially when I'm doing the tops of the hedges with a lumsy great thing that's not quite powerful enough, and keeps sticking. Once it's done though, i should be able to keep on top of it now.