A few weeks ago I wrote about the alarming amount of cob-webbage in my cottage and how it felt as though the cellar spiders were spinning and winning their take over bid. I have good news – whilst talking to one of my very wise clients last week, she told me about the problem she currently has with those horrible little carpet moths. Nodding in agreement and sympathy, I suddenly realised that I haven’t actually had the usual moth invasion this year. And guess what? Yes, cellar spiders eat moths. Hooray. Sort of.

As is often the case in nature, you have to decide between two not-so-brilliant options. I can confirm the spiders have won. Based purely on the fact that they eat other pests and not my beautiful Welsh woollen blankets or the silk lining of the only really nice ‘posh’ coat I own (the one for funerals), the cellar spiders have had a reprieve.

A house-proud friend did try to trip me up by asking why not eradicate both the spiders and the moths but I haven’t got the time for all that, I’ve got far more important magical stuff to do.

Magical stuff which this week has included picking some lovely little ‘extras’ from the garden – mine and other peoples. With permission, of course. I have harvested, shared and eaten copious amounts of figs, field mushrooms, blackberries, hazelnuts, courgettes, plums, tomatoes, apples, pears and runners beans. After the constant watering of summer, it has been a delight to ‘eat out of the garden’ with such little effort.

Terry Walton is actually sowing some of this year’s runner bean seed to see if he can get another late crop this year. I admire his tenacity and positivity but I am content to pick what’s available, rather than ‘force’ my food.

I am always amazed at how quickly crispy brown lawns and verges green up after a drop of refreshing rain and am currently a little over-awed by the enormous amount of weed seed that is carpeting any bare soil. There is a swathe of the most verdant green seedlings growing rapidly on the side of a local lane, which I’m monitoring closely to see what they are going to mature into. That’s how exciting life in nature can be.

And as a footnote, and as I am aware I am not the only person in the Old Dog Arena, navigating the last but most important and privileged chapter, I am often sharing anything I find ‘helps’ with doggy dotage. The latest is the Pill Pocket. Whilst some doggy medication and supplements have been cleverly manufactured to taste of ‘treats’, Pardale V still has that awful chalky ‘Paracetamol/aspriny’ taste. Yogi used to take it if bribed with cheese or chicken but for the last 6 months it has become quite a battle of wills. A battle in which I often feel unnervingly unarmed. Despite trying to heavily-disguise it, she would rumble me, lick off the tasty overcoat of chicken, tuna, cheese, sausage and even steak and then spit every small piece of Pardale V on the floor and look at me with ever-increasing disappointment. Despite devouring the most disgusting and decaying things with relish in her 17 years, now she can, and will, detect and reject the minutest sliver of beneficial medication.

Anyway, victory is mine as I have discovered Greenies Pill Pockets, which are so malleable that you can mould them around any pill and hand them to your dog with confidence. They have proved highly successful for almost a month - I’ll just have to make sure that Yogi doesn’t read this.