There’s a beautiful poppy plant by the parsnips, which I’m doing my best to remember, so I can gather seed from it.

The first gourds are appearing now – some round pale ones and some green striped ones.

It looks like it might be a good pear year too. A few look a bit scabby, but most look good and healthy like this.

A lot of the flowers had gone over (rather early this year as it’s been so dry) so after doing all the deadheading, I made a start on clearing the front bed. The dead corn cockles are hiding the alliums and perennials and I don’t want them to seed down this year. I thought I’d be able to pull them out, but the ground was rock hard, so I cut them off. Rain is coming overnight and tomorrow, so hopefully the ground will soften a little with most of the rubbish gone.

There’s more work to be done – clearing and then digging out the roots. I need to feed the callicarpa again as it doesn’t look very happy. I have some good perennials in the bed, but I need more robust plants in there, having got rid of all the weeds that cover the ground. Adding a bunch of compost and leaves would be a good idea too.

I harvested a massive beetroot for Suzy. There are more big ones to come. I know I’ve watered that bed an amount, but it’s been so dry that the beetroot success is still a bit of a mystery to me.