Herbal storehouse

 I have been trying to decide how best to describe the plot, so looked for some definitions on t'internet.

Cottage Garden - an informal garden with colourful flowering plants. (No)

Physic Garden - a herb garden with medicinal plants. (Hmm, maybe)

Apothecary Garden - (from the Greek, meaning 'storehouse') herbs of a medicinal and/or culinary use.(Yes?)

What it isn't, is what is generally thought of as a traditional allotment (straight lines of potatoes, onions, carrots etc.)

Nevertheless, it takes a lot of work to plan and develop the planting even (or perhaps especially) if you opt for no-dig, raised beds.

This is one of two triangular ericaceous beds.  The heathers are flowering and the blueberries seem to fruit successionally over the past couple of months. The cranberry also has a reasonable crop this year.

The second bed has lavender, hypericum perforatum (?) on the left and chicory (blue flower) on the right. I have only known chicory as the bitter salad leaves (once sold as an exotic winter salad, wrapped in blue tissue paper and boxed). This plant is about my height and has beautiful blue-washed flowers.

Life today included four butterflies (Painted Lady, Red Admiral, both too fleeting to capture) a Large White (female) and a Comma.

Also a hover-fly (Volucella zonaria) which is spreading up the country year by year and lots of Greenbottle flies (Lucilia caesar) on the mints. So many bees, bumble, honey, flower and all too quick to photograph.

Swifts and house martins seem to have all flown south to their winter palace. Not many birds about at all today (apart from the ever-present gulls and pigeons). Perhaps it's the weather.