The pond was quite full after all the rain we’ve had.

The compost gourd is definitely a Jack Be Little plant, but they’re fun, so never mind.

I got caught in the rain, probably because I’d taken my raincoat out of my car. It was worth the visit though, because I heard a bird call, which Merlin identified as the red linnet – and looking up I saw a little flock of them fly over me.

I picked tomatoes and one of the Romas was caught in the cage and was a bit tricky to get out.

I did a couple of buckets of weeding and pulled up more borage. It wasn’t a comprehensive job; there are still some bits of weeds that were just cut down rather than dug out, because it was too hot to bother too much. I did get under the apple tree and cut the big hanging branches though.

A few buckets of good stuff went onto the compost heap, including windfalls and all the sweet peas. Again, I just cut those down. There’s still an amount to pull out of the ground, plus the strings to remove.

The red dragonfly was around the pond most of the time. Impossible to photograph when it’s on the poppy seed heads because of all the things behind it.

I fed the beans, cucumbers, Red Alerts, zinnias, cosmos and rudbeckia. The veg and Roma all got watered, along with the anise hyssop, one of which has magically flowered.

I picked a bunch of zinnias, calendula and a small sunflower. They’ve made two pretty vases at home, which gives me the taste for growing more cut flowers.

There was a half-eaten pear in the car park when I turned up, so I picked all the fruit from the tree  to save the rest from the crows. They’re being quite destructive this year and others have put up deterrents to scare them off.

I spent the morning deadheading and harvesting. I’ve started doing a bit of tidying, starting to take down the sweet peas and cut back the gourd vines. I need to do some weeding and dig up the borage. The nasturtiums and marigolds are still providing great colour.

I removed blanket weed from the pond and put back a couple of damselfly larvae. I saw a yellow and dragonfly and a red one, and heard their wings fluttering.

I’m now almost certain that this is a Jack Be Little. I’ve take more off the plant as it’s still growing fast, but I’ve left a couple of fruits.

I cut down more damaged sweetcorn. There were some small pieces of ripe corn, but it wasn’t enough to be safe to eat. There are a couple of cobs that might survive if the crows fail to see them.

I cleared up some windfalls from the grass. When I’ve got the energy I need to get under the tree and pick up more rotten ones, and chop back a couple of brambles coming over the fence.

The big sunflower has lots of flowers. There are going to be so many seeds for the birds all around the plot.

Some late bloomers have arrived: the godetia, big gladioli and the first rudbeckia. The cosmos need some encouragement – I haven’t fed things for a few weeks. The runner beans are about done now; I don’t think feeding them will change anything.

It was too hot to go down in the afternoon and I was knackered after Brighton, falling asleep until nearly 4pm.

At last the Roma have begun to ripen, and there are plenty more Red Alerts to come. A bag went to Annie to help against the glut.

The mystery gourd has grown quickly along the side of the shed and the pruned side seems to have grown back quite a lot too.

There’s another cucumber on the way, and the nasturtiums around it have had a second coming, so look good.

I managed to mow the main path on 1, but had to do the rest on 2.

The gourd on the compost heap was growing in three different directions. I pruned it down the side to give myself some access to the compost heap. It’s possibly a pumpkin, but I think it’s more likely to be a Jack Be Little.

There were lots of tomatoes to harvest. The beans were a bit big and I should have done a mid-week visit really. The birds have been eating the pears, so we picked all the ones that would come off the tree and took them home.

I spent all morning doing a crammed bucket of deadheading, with the occasional weed pull as I went.

In the afternoon I finished off the strimming. It had grown really thick, just like the grass, so in places I was strimming the path down too. Hopefully the coming hot weather will dry out the grass and I’ll be able to do a mow on 1 soon. Might have a be 2 then a 1 if I’m unlucky.

I’ve swapped the piece of wood at the front of pond for a big cobble. The birds were constantly tipping it into the water, so I’ve conceded the battle. If they still manage to move the big stone, I’m hopeful it will just drop to the marginal shelf. A red dragonfly came to visit and settled on the poppy seed heads. The damselfly larvae are easy to find in the water and I also saw my first diving beetle in a while, which was pleasing.

Taking a picture of the pond is a bit of a trick now, as the weedy little cerinthe I planted in the corner of Bed 1 where I stand have magically turned into good plants.

I weeded Bed 4 and planted all the cosmos. It turned out that I hadn’t pinched three of them. Two were leggy, so I’ve cut them down. The third is a bit bushier and has a second stem, so I’ll let it flower first.

I had some battery left from the mowing, so I used that up to make a start on the strimming.

The harvest was good, with a great, straight cucumber. I found two pears on the ground, half-eaten, so I thought I’d better pick few to see how they’re coming. Apparently you pick them unripe anyway. The tree has pretty much cleared of scab this year, so I don’t want the crows stealing all my fruit.

I knew I needed to mow, but was still surprised to see how much the clover had grown. A mow on 3 was the only option, followed by a mow on 2. The clover was really wet.

A mid-week harvest. I’ve pulled up all the onions, to make room for the cosmos. I harvested the first mad carrot and picked some zinnias for home. The outdoor zinnias are healthy, but haven’t done a great deal of growing.

I should have been down during the week as the clover was very high and there were lots of beans to pick. I did a mow on 3 and then I hope to strim and mow again, but there’s so much clover that it’ll probably be 2 then 1.

I can see the damselfly larvae in the pond and they’re bigger than before. There’s not too much more blanket weed.

Crows had been at the sweetcorn, so I had to pull up some damaged/eaten cobs and foliage. When I went to throw it on the compost heap, I found that the unknown cucurbit there had really taken off. I trimmed the leaves back a bit to keep a bit of access to the compost heap. I then had to trim back all the nettles that were coming through the fence. To make a bit more space I’ve emptied half a bag of leaves into the black bin and the other half onto the compost.

There’s a lizard living in the wooden leaf bin and he was basking on top of the bin before I scared him off.

I did lots of deadheading and weeding. I’ve now cleared the alliums out of the front bed and weeded all around the callicarpa. It’s looking a bit better and I think it’s benefitted from the feed I’ve given it. More weeding is needed around the salvias and helianthus. I’m still not sure what to do with this bed.

The alliums are now stored in a paper bag, and I’ve also saved the seed from some dark blue nigella in Bed 3.

Some of the small dry onions had been disturbed by something, so I pulled up all the dry ones. A few were no good, but overall they weren’t bad. I’ll get the larger ones with green leaves next time – and then the nigella at home needs to be put in! Also harvested: the first tomatoes.