It was a hot day and time for the tomatoes to move to the plot at last. I’ve filled Bed 8 with Romas and the put the rings around them. Some Red Alerts will go in Bed 2 with more Romas; the crappier Red Alerts will be put in pots at home.

I’ve put tiny marigolds by the tomatoes and gourds. They never got potted on, so are very small. We’ll see if they now take off.

The three extra cucumbers now have strings to climb on the wigwam. The direct sown cucumbers are clearly so much stronger than the home grown ones (though at least they didn’t snap this time). Next year will definitely see more direct and outdoor sowing.

The sunburned runner beans are now pretty much recovered and are all growing nice new growth. I’ve planted out the final bean that germinated bean from home, which looks healthier than all the rest. And of course the bean I’d sown at the cane has germinated, so it might yet come up.

I’ve got aphids around the place, even on the teasel. Hopefully some ladybirds will turn up soon. I spread some more bark under the apple tree and noticed that the bark is peeling at the bottom of the trunk.

I pulled up the radishes, which were sown about a month ago. They were bigger than they were meant to be, but apparently tasted good. I’ve sown two more rows just for fun.

A short post-work visit to check things before tomorrow’s work. I’d left a tray of nasturtiums out all week, but they had magically survived. So I’ve planted them in Beds 6 and 9, with a couple in Bed 1 and one in the left border by the Bidens.

The fern bed is still looking great. A few volunteers and weeds have come up, but one frondy one looks very fitting, so that can certainly stay.

The pond is still all good and the bird bowl is clearly being used in my absence – as evidenced by the damn bank at that end of the pond. I’ve also discovered tiny seedlings of what I really hope is the chaenorhinum among the stones.

The foxgloves are doing very well and I’ve clearly got them to come in different colours for years yet as long as I tap the seed heads when the flowers are done.

I’ve added a few pebbles to the pond, but they mostly rolled off the front shelf into the depths, so I didn’t bother with many. I’ll get some farm rock at some point and that can be added. The beetles and tiny creatures are loving the bird bowl, though probably less when the birds turn up in my absence.

I’ve planted up Bed 11 now. Eight sweetcorn plants of various sizes are in. I’ve put two seeds in the empty hole and one seed near the smallest plant in case it doesn’t survive the move. At the right end of the bed I’ve put in five or so gourd plants. “Or so” because a couple of them had brand new plants coming up next to the main plant.

A couple of cerinthe and some malope have been put into Bed 1. I think that’s everything now, so it’s just up to the bed to do what it will.

There’s still most of a tray of Jewel nasturtiums leftover, which might be put into Beds 6 and 9 just because. I’ve put four of them into the white pot where the calendula had died. The soil’s awful in that pot, so let’s see how that helps. I had a few trailing nasturtiums in the sweetcorn tray, which I’ve put into a tray of six for Suzy.

The sun was shining beautifully this morning, meaning I could see right down to the bottom of the pond. Through the day I saw a couple of diving beetles, lots of shrimp and the funny water boatmen thing. The liner at the left corner looks a bit like it’s sagged a bit, but I can still see it under the pole by the grass.  I just need plants to take over and cover the liner so I can stop thinking about it.

After the rain the teasel is doing its magic water-holding thing. I don’t know if any visitors to the plot will take advantage of that.

I have now weeded everything and deadheaded the borders. There’s marestail coming up this year, particularly in the ledge along with bindweed, so I’ll keep working on that. The carrot and beetroot and coming up quite well. As always, everything just needs water. I didn’t gather much after the big rainfall, so who knows where it landed.

I’ve marked up Bed 11 for sweetcorn and gourds. I spent ages wondering if I’d turn that bed into flowers with a wigwam for the leggy sweet peas. The peas in Bed 9 are small, but have come up well, so I think I’m just going to abandon the leggy ones as I can’t find anywhere else to put them.

My first harvest of the year was the leftover oca that had started sprouting in Bed 11. Poppies and a few weeds had grown around the edges, but only marestail where the ground was covered, so covering the beds really is best.

The poor scorched runner beans are fortunately recovering. with new growth at the top and bottom.

The parsnips are doing well, I just need to keep watering the third row to get them to germinate. A few random radishes have come up, which I should probably harvest at their current size.

I’ve transplanted 3 home cucumbers to Bed 5 and magically they didn’t break. I’ll add canes later. The nasturtiums can stay for now. If they get in the way, they’ll be ousted.

Bed 1 now has a surprise sunflower in it. There was a gap after the weeding and then of course when I made a hole I found a small cerinthe seedling. If only we’d had rain, this bed would be so different. I think I’ll try it again next year in a smaller bed and hope for fewer weeds.

I’ve stuffed Beds 6 and 9 with nasturtiums and sunflowers. In Bed 6 I’ve got the nursery rows of zinnias and cosmos that will moved as needed. I’ve got pretty good zinnias at home along with some ridiculous cosmos.

Bed 9 has overwintered candytuft too, and stacks of nasturtiums and sunflowers. My homegrown sunflowers are spindly compared to the self sown ones, so next year there will definitely be some kind of direct sow plan going on.

I went down to do the mowing, which needed a 2 then 1 thanks to the bit of rain adding moisture to the clover. It all looks good for a weekend inspection (bar all the weeds) and we have lots of rain coming the night after next.

The stone adjustment to the bird bowl has worked; only a few pebbles had shifted, which is to be expected.

The one hole in the second bee hotel has now turned into a hole on the other side – plus a complete destruction of the butterfly slot. I guess I need to fill it in with some dowels. The other one needs some replacement dowels too.

The naturalised foxgloves in the apple tree are the first open and look great in a few colours. The others around the plot are a range of colours.

While I did the overdue strimming, Mum opened Beds 2, 8 and 11. I need to get them planted/sown and we’ve got a little rain coming, so it’ll be a good thing to have the rain hit the soil, not the plastic. All the buckets are out in expectation of a miracle downpour.

The pond is now completely full thanks to another jerry can of well water. The couple of patches of linter showing are meant to be covered by greenery in time, so I’m pretty pleased with everything being level. The big side stones in the bird bowl had slipped, so I’ve  swapped them over, putting them at the bottom, with the paddlestone on top.

The first thing I saw this morning was that the random plant that had been among the white mazus, and which I saved with no great thought, was suddenly flowering. The flower closed in the afternoon, so I hope will be back again tomorrow. It’s a golden-eyed grass – sisyrinchium californium. It likes boggy ground (and rock hard ground too, apparently). I would guess that it was seeded in the mazus soil when I bought that.

The next projects were building the front left corner, where the liner is a bit short, and finishing the back right corner. At the front I flattened and pinned the liner as best I could. I’ve put some of the forget-me-nots back down the original hole behind all the liners and the rest I’ve floated in the water in that area. The water is technically a bit deep for them, but they’d previously been in deep water, rafting in the elodea.

A little bit of liner is visible at the front, which is inevitable. I’ve given it a layer of soil and stones and it might get another layer when that dries and settles. I’ve sprinkled million bells (chaenorhinum origanifolium) seed all over the front and right banks to see if that will take off at all. No sign of a previous sowing, but I’ve sprinkled lots more this time and it’s had more soil on top. I was almost done with the pond before late lunch, which was an amazing feeling.

After lunch I had a new Stanley knife blade with which to cut the excess liner and underlay, which put my previous blade to absolute shame.

I stole some cobbles from home to finish off the bird bowl. I needed a couple of big ones to cover the liner on the front wall of the bird bowl. I’ve added a stick for smaller birds to perch on. We’ll see if they appreciate it. There’s a bit of wood on the front bank, which I’m assuming will get tossed in.

I still had the box of bottom water and sorted through it expecting to get some water for the garden and mud for wherever. With a bucket of water out I realised that there was a lot of life still in the mud and in the water, so I put that into the pond. I carefully mixed up the rest and added that too, which included a big diving beetle and a snail. So I think that’s three big beetles I have now.

I might add some pebbles to the pond as I have a lot, but I will wait for the water to settle and see what the bottom’s like. An unbelievable number had sunk to the very bottom in the original pond, completely ruining the depth. The new bird bowl design should stop that happening.

I’m absolutely delighted with the result and amazed I managed to get this done in five shifts, a couple of those with help. The wildlife has been preserved, banks weeded, planted and improved; the shape mammothly improved in various ways and not too much money spent on it.

A starling failed to get any food from the feeder, which was satisfying to see. I’m still considering a branchy arch over it to keep the big birds off and for the little birds to perch in. It’s so fun to see them on the branches I’ve got propped up lower down.

I’ve added big poppy seed to beds 6 and 1 as a last ditch attempt to fill in spaces in the flowers. The Icelandic poppies in Bed 1 are now coming up well, so if they’re successful, they could be a good annual sow in the borders.

The fern bed is looking good and colourful. It’s really matured well already. The birds keep kicking out the bark. I’m wondering about a little retaining fence at the front, but I’m not sure how easy that would be to install.

More pond work today. The silt has already started to settle, which is a good sign it’s not clay-based. I spent the morning stood in the pond, which was super easy thanks to my new big marginal shelves. The water was barely up to my ankles and warmed up as time went on. I installed the long pole pretty easily and hammered staples over two of the screws.

I cut back the liner and underlay at the back and built up the shelf, starting by placing the plants and big clods of earth. I filled in with earth and a couple of bits of wood to stop it falling through. I got as far the bird bowl, planting the new perennial candytuft.

The blackbird has been destroying the water violet. It had moved on from just taking the soil to pecking so hard that it was breaking off pieces of the plant. I replanted them and then covered it completely with pebbles. All this was having retrieved it from the bottom of the pond where it had fallen during the morning, meaning I couldn’t find it.

Happily I’ve seen two big beetles, various small beetles, a hoverfly, and a spider in and around the pond, so the wildlife hasn’t been put off by the move.

I added the first big stones and pebbles to the bird bowl, then added enough that the water from the pond overflowed perfectly into the bowl. Really pleased I got this piece of the design right.

After lunch and Lucozade to keep my legs moving, I added stones to the back and side banks. I continued earthing up at the back and placed the large stone with a lot of earth behind it. It feels like an evergreen plant for some cover is needed here. Probably not another perennial candytuft, but something like that.

I added more water to let the liner settle further and tidied up some of the many buckets and pieces of pond bank laid out around plot. Mr B has been a great help, bringing me a couple of jerry cans absolutely full from the well.

Something odd has appeared in the middle of the bug hotel on the fence. A black and white something in the butterfly hole, and some wooly something on the left.

Bed 1 got a bit of leftover water from home. The newly planted beans are ok and I’ve pretty much given up on the garlic in Bed 6. That’ll be a matter of the volunteers already there and spare calendulas and zinnias.

The stirred up mud in the pond has already started to settle, which means there’s not much clay in it. I saw small diving beetles and the big one, so all is well with them. The water violet has been attacked by the blackbird though, so I’ve put some more stone on top to try and protect it.

I planted out the runner beans into Bed 7. One of them is still quite small, and there’s one space for the one I’ve re-sown at home. I’ll bring it when it’s big enough to resist marauders.

I did a pile of pick/pull weeding. The bindweed had started winding itself around the lovely big foxgloves under the apple tree and an amount of marestail has reappeared in the ledge, coming through from the back plot.

The teasel is looking great and is collecting dew in its leaves to serve as a natural trough.

The liner was too hot to handle in the sun yesterday, so today’s 12ºC was chilly, but we could at least touch the liner. It went fairly well. It ripped down a seam early on, which was alarming, but fortunately we had so much that turning the liner 90º still left us with plenty to work with.

There’s a paddle stone sitting on a scrap of polythene at the bottom of the deep part. It’s narrow part down, leaving some hiding spaces – until all the stones inevitably fall down there. I’ll also double line the bird bowl to give it some more protection against pecking.

The liner is a little short on the left hand side, but I’m hoping it will still be ok. I’ll probably stick some extra liner in there as backup. We filled it up with the muddy bottom water from the old pond and I threw in all the hornwort I could find from the top water box. The elodea isn’t going back, but needs a good rinse to save the wildlife.

The pots of pickerel weed, yellow iris, water violet and creeping Jenny have gone onto the marginal shelf. The water violet needs to be bigger before it can go down into the deeper hole.

Most of the water has come from the well, collected by Mr B. He’s going to do another jerry can for me, so that’ll probably be all I need from the well. Then comes all the work of building back the banks…