I went down in the afternoon after a rainy morning. There seemed to be many more insects around than usual. Shield bugs of all kinds in particular – dock bug nymph, bush cricket, brassica shield bug, brown shield bug nymph. When I opened the shed yesterday, a huge (hawk?) moth flew out.

I did a bunch of weeding, pulling up and cutting down over on the right hand side. I’ve finally cut the lemon balm halfway down and I think that’s going to be a bit reduced later. The verbenas on the right hand side aren’t doing a great job of standing up, so I need them to thicken up somehow too.

Also up for some kind of replacement / solution is the poor physostegia, which continues to deteriorate in spite of my help.

Finally the mystery has been solved as to the identity of these plants: they are indeed bear’s breeches. The seedlings grow really slowly and they come up on runners – which I’d have known if I hadn’t been leaving them! Today’s weeding uncovered more plants and a pretty big one inside the obelisk. I think I’ll take the little ones out, but I’m not sure about the bigger one.

Found a job for someone.

The asters are nearly here!

Pulled up some weeds from around the various gourds and finally got a better view of the second possible pumpkin in the back bed. It’s a strange one that almost looks like a Turks Turban.