We had the most insane thunderstorm last night, with non-stop thunder and lightning and fairly torrential rain. As a result, everything got nicely watered in! The runner beans were rather battered and muddy and had some slug damage, but all in all, nothing was irrevocably damaged. The nasturtiums had a bit of slug damage, but only where the leaves had touched the ground.

It was very hot at the plot and muggy too, as the ground was so damp. I put the dahlias in bed 2, as the zinnias haven’t been up to the task. They’re all caned, as they’ve been busy trying to fall over right from the start. They’re in a deliberate zig zag and I am aiming to have something else growing around them too – godetia? I propped up the zinnias in the little bed, as where they’d fallen onto the ground over their collars, the slugs had been at them. One cosmos had been seen off entirely.

The damp ground was pretty good to work with and I weeded the full veg bed and resowed gaps of beetroot and carrot and also sowed the second rows of each. I need to watch out for the germination rates now, in case the second row needs filling in too.

There’s seed coming up around obelisk and thanks to the compost I can see that it’s certainly in areas I’ve sown. I put the remaining zinnias in around the back of the obelisk and scattered poppy seed and compost around them.

I put the larkspur seed I have in the left bed and scattered all the nigella seed around the boundary beds too. I really need it to do its thing, but I guess it might not until next year. I’ve also scattered some poppy seed.

I’ve put two purple bell vines in on the left side and thrown down slug pellets, plus some through the fence into the wilderness beyond, where the weeds are a metre high. Not helping the slug problem this year.

The carnation I put in on the left of the gate is definitely dead, so I pulled it up and put a nasturtium in its place. I propped up its leaves with wires (and did the same for others around the place) as it seems that it’s only the leaves that get eaten; slugs have no great interest in the stems.

By the time I went home in the afternoon, I’d emptied the shed of all the plants that had been brought down, so nothing more would greet me as a chore every time I opened the door. I’ve stuck the silly cosmos into the same pot that has one by the shed.