I think the season of easier but never-ending work is beginning: maintenance, weeding, deadheading, cutting back, propping up, harvesting …

In the morning I watered Beds 8 and 9 with ant nematodes and put some on Bed 5 with the radishes and chard too.

We’ve had an amount of rain recently, which had helped knock over a few things, so everlasting peas, Canterbury bells and the yarrow have been stood back up. I’ve also staked a couple of Ferlines because they’ve grown so strong that they knocked the netting out of line and then got a bend in their stems. Hopefully I can guide them back a bit straighter.

One of the chard had bolted, so I’ve cut it right down. I’ll leave it a little while to see if it starts regrowing. Lots of little chard is coming up to replace the bolted ones that are now on the compost heap.

The uchiki kuri is going great guns and keeps needing to be wound back into the netting. I’ve given up the idea of just vertical growth; I’m weaving them in and out as needed.

The runner beans have a number of blackfly, so I sprayed again. They don’t seem to be too detrimental to growth yet at least, and there seems to always be a ladybird around when I’m looking at them.

First big harvest: loads of chard, a few French beans and a courgette.