I’ve potted on the tomatoes and buried them deep, adding vermiculite on top to reduce the fungus gnats. The Romas are doing better than the Red Alerts; some of the latter are very small and have been kept in small pots in the office. The big plants are now in the conservatory with the door open.

The sweetcorn and cosmos are being troublesome this year, so I’ve sown more backups. The former is old seed, which I didn’t realise until today.

I’ve sown some brand new Rudbeckia Aries seeds. They’re inside for germination and will then go outside.

After doing some major filling yesterday, the pond level was still good and high, which was great. The water had a film over it, which I tried to lift off a little with the net, but I might have just broken it up. I’ll leave the water now and with any luck the water will rebalance. There are lots of diving beetles and spiders are taking over the stony edges.

Two calendulas are just starting to flower. There are signs of tiny seeds appearing in the border, but I’m not sure what they are. Poppy, maybe, along with corn cockle. What I thought was a Californian poppy on the ledge now has a deep pink, cornflower-like bud. It’s the rhodanthemum I planted last April.

I’ve sown more godetia and candytuft all around, so I hope they’ll fill in any holes.

I’ve added another row of parsnip and uncovered the rows. A few radish might be coming up in that short side row, but they’ll take their chance.

The hawthorns are doing beautifully, the big one in particular. I’ve trimmed a few bits off them where they were coming through the fence, and pushed other pieces back through the chicken wire.

We had lots of rain the night before last, but I didn’t gain much in my buckets and the pond. I have been wondering if there was another hole in the liner somewhere, but I’ve concluded that it’s pretty ok, but simply needs more water in it. It’s dropped maybe an inch since the repair, which is to be expected with sun and wind. I’ve got more tap water airing to get lower the chlorine content and I’ll add that in the next few days.

I noticed some new creatures in the pond, some of which sat still to be photographed, while others were busy swimming around. They’re very young diving beetles.

While looking for holes, I cleared out a little creeping jenny and forget me not to reduce transpiration. One piece of creeping jenny came out with some roots, so I’ve planted it on the far bank and covered it with some bark to let it settle. By the gate the plant has hopped into the grass, so it does take over once established.

Bed 1 has a lot of weeds coming and some other seedlings that might be good or bad. I do finally have poppies showing now though.

There were starlings everywhere when I turned up, all over the car park, then on my fences. A couple had also worked out how to cling to the fence to eat the coconuts that I’d put there for the robin and blue tits.

The pond had held its water level, which was a great relief. The water is still down from the top and needs more to really look good.

I’ve finally sown a pot of chives with seed I collected a year or two ago.

I weeded Bed 7 and here and there around the plot. The parsnips have germinated quite well under their protection. I have a big space between the two rows and the wigwam and I’ve added short rows at the side of the bed of lettuce and radish. The seed is old though, so might not do anything and there’s still quite a gap that I don’t know how to fill in a little.

The Russian sage has clearly had it and I’ve replaced the second one with one of the over-wintered calendulas.

I’ve broadcast the final cornflower seed in a few places. I just need it – and the other seeds – to germinate and get going at last. The anise hyssop at home has stalled, so I’ve put some seed in a pot by the shed to give it another chance. I’ll do another tray at home too, this time from the seed that hasn’t been refrigerated.

I sowed the second rows of carrot and beetroot in Bed 10. The first couple of carrots are up now.

The everlasting peas are starting, so I’m trying to keep them propped up and free of weeds.

I rebuilt the pond and filled it high with a mix of the tap water that’s been airing for several days and the rainwater I’ve gathered. I’ve now  completely drained the water butts, so a night of proper rain would be good please. Fingers crossed the water level is ok tomorrow.

I used the final 4.5 litres of water to mix up some seaweed, which I gave to the three bear’s breeches, the callicarpa and the three brachyscome.

We had some light rain this morning, which took care of the seed watering that I’m not doing. Bed 1 is turning greener. Some good seeds are coming up, but I know a lot is weeds now. I’ve removed some of the borage that threatens to later block my view. I’ll see how it goes with what I’ve left.

I did some general weeding and edging along the left boundary and here and there. I have more of that to do across the plot. There are some volunteers in Bed 6 that need to be moved, possibly to Bed 1. I dug up some leatherjackets for the coconut, but the robin didn’t seem very interested; the crushed mealworms are much preferred.

I took the English bluebells down to the plot in their pots. Most have gone between the apple tree and fern bed, the pot of 4 is now sitting on top of the bug hotel.

The elder is now coming in to leaf on the small pieces  that were uncut. Looking at the new leaves round on Bob’s side, I found that my grape hyacinth have jumped through the fence. I also noticed that there’s a big clump of physostegia in D’s path.

Time to fix the pond again. I took off all the stones, washed the beach pretty clean and let it dry in the sun while I did other jobs. I examined the patch and found no problem with it and then, happily, found a new small hole that has no doubt been the problem. I found a few dents in the liner too, which might be weaknesses, so I patched those and the hole with glue. I then put a patch over the new hole and ran a new bead of glue around the old patch, just for luck. After this, if the problem still exists, I think I need to consider remaking it – the sand underneath isn’t great either.

I finally did some lawn work and put down a bag of top soil across three patches: by the water butt, in front of Bed 3, and in front of the bird feeder. I’ve put a liberal layer of grass seed down, which will hopefully get a sprinkle of rain over the next few days.

We put up 8 sweet pea strings on each of the poles in Bed 9. I have semi-ok sweet peas at home, but I’ve direct sown 2 Galaxy Mixed seeds at each string. I have nasturtiums at home too, but I want this bed to be full, so I have sown lots of Orchid Flame, Jewel Mixed and Trailing Mixed seeds all over the bed.

I transplanted some volunteer nasturtiums from Bed 5 too. I removed one of the dead Russian sages and replaced it with a volunteer sunflower. With Bed 5 empty, I sowed 2 cucumber seeds at the foot of each cane. I have three seedlings at home. This year’s approach is to encourage competition between the two approaches, like the first year I did them.

In the empty part of Bed 6 I’ve sown two nursery rows of cosmos and zinnia. Home’s zinnias aren’t bad, the cosmos are all bendy and silly.

Wildlife-wise, the Robin took great advantage of the mealworm dish, but threw them every which way when they were whole, so I have to make sure they’re crushed up. Sitting by the shed adding a tidy pot of calendula to the nursery corner, I could hear bird feet on the shed roof, which turned out to be a magpie, which took fright once it saw me. And finally, a bee somehow got caught inside my veg net. I left the side open for a while, so I hope it found its way out before I shut it again.

I discovered that the reason I’ve been staring at a completely empty tray of marigolds is that the seed was from 2023, which is too old for marigolds. I’ve resown the whole tray with new seed today and put it on the warm hall floor.

Various holes in the sunflower, gourd and nasturtium trays have been resown too. Those trays are in the conservatory. In the office I’ve nipped the tops off my terrible sweet peas and I’ll direct sow others at the weekend.

We finally had some rain last night and I collected a total of 6 litres in all the buckets I’d left out. I went down to amalgamate the treasure into one bucket and found that the fiddleheads on the second Polystichum setiferum have already grown up above the foliage.

The parsnips have appeared in both rows now, but I’ll keep the covers in place for a little while. Hopefully Bed 1 will take off now too, having had a proper watering.

Sure enough, the pond had sunk to just below the big patch by this morning. So next weekend I’m going to have to dismantle the beach and see if I can patch it underneath as well. Meanwhile, all the buckets are out to catch any drop of rain that comes in the week. We may be due a little on Tuesday.

The plot is bone dry and waiting to spring into action. It just needs water to get going.

At home I’ve pinch out the terribly leggy sweet peas. Next weekend I’ll put seeds straight in the ground too.

The first tulips are open in Bed 3 and some double-headed ones are coming along. This autumn I’ll be planting more bulbs as I don’t think it’s only the pink tulips that are missing. The foxgloves are taking off though and I think I have some more that will flower this year. Next year I’ll probably be complaining that I have too many.

The pond was low again and I added some rainwater and some tap water that had been left open for a few days. Its first tap water!

I finished weeding the ledge and cut the grass back from the front edge of it better. It’s been a while since the wooden pole was seen, and bugs like to hide in there. I’ve planted 3 x brachyscome Mauve Delight, which is a mat-forming daisy that can fight it out with the fleabane when that starts growing. I’ve tried to keep them away from where the sweet williams or everlasting peas will flop. In the spaces I’ve then broadcast the remaining flax seed.

I’ve made a bug dish for the birds and hung it on the fence near the coconut. There are just crushed mealworms in there for now, but it’s intended for any grub I dig up and want the birds to have. The robins aren’t tame enough to come and get anything from me yet.

All four ferns now have fiddleheads at their bases, waiting to unfurl, which is exciting. Lots of green seedlings are coming up through the bark, but I’m not sure what they are yet. There’s bound to be some corn cockle.

Bed 1 is turning a little green too, though it’s too soon to tell what’s what. I managed to give it a light watering, but it really needs some rain to get the seeds going. There are lots of borage plants coming and they’ll be thinned and topped as needed so as not to block the view.

The various sticks and branches I’ve been keeping around have now been reduced down to a few useful straight ones. I haven’t thought about their usage yet, but the strongest ones may go in with the canes.