The wigwam went up today and I’ve planted out 6 cucumbers of varying size and strength. The weak floppy one had finally crisped up again at home, but so little progress was happening with so many seedlings, that I decided that today I’d throw lots of them into the deep end and see if they like all the extra food and less volatile supply of water.

A sunflower and a couple of zinnias have gone in here too, but as with Bed 7 they’ll have to fight the gourd plants when they get going. Those plants seem fairly strong, so this years plans/hopes for a bumper year have changed to the verdant look of gourd vines, whatever they turn out to bring.

Three runner bean seeds have come up so far, so runner beans are looking ok for this year so far.

The one parsnip I had was eaten by a slug overnight. I’ve put a sunflower in the middle of the bed for the hell of it, and while I was making that hole I uncovered a germinated parsnip seed. So I’ll leave this bed a little longer and see if any more parsnips deign to grow.

I’ve fed the onions with chicken pellets. The one little kalette had turned a more promising purpley colour, so it’s been thrown out into the plot too.

Similarly, the fairly terrible zinnia seedlings have gone into Bed 7 to sink or swim. I’ve put the rest of the lobelia out, mostly here, as well as a couple more in the left border. The netting has now been removed with the hope that the blackbird will be deterred by the number of plants.

In Bed 2 more carrots are coming up in the original line and I’ve sown a second line. Still no chard, but I’ve now sown the second half of the line.