We’ve got lots of rain coming tomorrow, so no plot visit tomorrow. Instead, I checked on things today after a reasonable amount of rain this week. The rain buckets had gathered lots and the butt on the corner no longer moves if you bump into it.

Everything was fine in spite of the breezy weather recently. There are the first flowers on the runner beans. Flowers are coming around the plot and what I thought were Icelandic poppies now have round buds and I think they’re going to be corn marigolds.

More of the third row of parsnips has germinated, so no resowing necessary; they just needed the right conditions.

I took a photo of the back left corner of Bed 3 to remind myself that at this point it’s a bit empty – some weeding needed, and the bulbs are done. The opposite corner is fine though, which some great colour.

Some bark has started peeling at the bottom of the apple tree. Pulling it back shows a slightly damp, orangey area and of course there was a woodlouse hiding in there.

I’d read that I needed to get the pickerel weed lower into the water so as to cover the bottom leaves – and as if to labour the point I found that new roots had appeared from the base of the plant. I took it off its bricks and added some stones for weight.

I’ve noticed a couple of mosquito larvae in the pond, which I didn’t have last year. Maybe they’ll attract a new kind of predator.