I took out more of the physostegia today – anything that was looking poorly. Some of the bits of root that came up looked like they were rotten. All very strange. So I’ve cut down anything bad, fed the whole plant with general fertiliser and then thrown a layer of compost onto the bare layer and among the remaining stalks.

I finally transplanted the 3 Canterbury bells that Ken had given me. I also finally separated a good number of the sweet william seedlings that have been growing a clump in a pot by the shed door. They weren’t in bad shape for having been overcrowded and so fingers crossed these biennials might do something on the ledge next year.

The Californian poppies haven’t done badly this year and I’ve also spread the first seeds from a pod. Some of the fleabanes and thrifts are getting pretty big – about a foot across. I might want to reduce them a little so they don’t take over as very low growing plants somewhere I’m trying to establish height.

I’ve discovered another volunteer tomato. This one is in the back bed; ones in the runner bean bed have flowers on them! A lot of tomatoes dropped last year, so I guess this is the result.