I went to the garden centre this morning and bought some semi-unnecessary plants, along with some plant food and compost.

At the plot I put marigolds in among all the tomatoes. I put the remainder in at the ends of the gourd trellis bed, in the back pumpkin bed and one in the middle bed too. Hopefully a bit of pungent smell might keep some beasts at bay.

When I was putting in the marigolds, I discovered that the first tomatoes have arrived. The weak plant even has a tiny fruit on it too!

I’ve picked off the ill-looking leaves and sprayed everything ever with soapy water. There were black fly and green fly all over the place, but maybe I’ve slowed them down a bit.

I pulled some purple loosestrife out of the drive and have planted it where the poppy broke off. The poppy root is still there, so maybe it will be back next year. With any luck the purple loosestrife will start spreading itself around now.

This gourd has been a bit oddly yellow since I put it in, so I’ve dug a bit of chicken manure into the ground around it for some added magnesium.

I’ve broadcast some more seed. I made a mixture of calendula, morning glory, sunflowers, aster, sweet william, flax, wild bergamot and last year’s mystery thistle that appeared in the meadow mix and sprinkled it around and covered it with compost and chicken manure.

I also spread a packet of wild flowers (corn chamomile, musk mallow, salad barnet, wild basil, wild carrot and wild marjoram) and some candytuft where there are still some spaces. The nigellas have been flowering for a while now, but there are a number of poppies around that are new this year and haven’t yet opened.

I bought 3 black eye Susan vines (thunbergia) at the garden centre. They’re only half hardy, so aren’t a long term fence solution. The everlasting sweet peas in pots on the back fence are still holding on, but it would be so much better if they were in the ground. I wonder if I can gather some seed this year and get more started like that?

I’ve put one vine in the middle of the ledge fence, digging it in as much as I could, squishing it down and then building soil and compost up around it. Another has gone in behind a young verbena by the elder. The third has gone in on the front fence. First of all I cut back the meadow of grass on the other side of the fence in case someone comes along with a strimmer and lops off my new plant by mistake.