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.