It rained lots yesterday and so I had water to empty into the right hand butt. It’s now about half full and nothing needs watering for a little while. I put down some more grass seed on my bare patches as the week ahead is set to be warm and dry, so maybe the seed will germinate.

I did some weeding all around the boundaries, pulling out lots of grass and cutting back some brambles and nettles. I’ve deadheaded the heucheras and I can see some new leaves coming at the base. The first corn marigold and some poppies have opened in Bed 1, so it really feels like things are starting now.

The sweet peas have spread out quite well, so I’ve now tied them all in for the first time. I think I might have to wind at least one horizontal layer around the strings. Possibly the runner beans would benefit from this too, as they’re having a bit of trouble staying wound around the canes.

The direct sown cosmos and zinnias are wonderfully robust and I’ve now pinched out a number of them. I’m not sure where they’ll all end up, seeing as I’ve got good zinnias at home too, as well as silly bendy cosmos. There is definitely going to be a load of direct or outdoor sowing happening next year.

The bark at the bottom of the apple tree is peeling a bit and so I took some photos for Reddit and went through the tree looking for any other damage. At the far side I found some eaten leaves with remnants of web. Turns out those are from caterpillars and I should probably get back there and remove more of the affected leaves and have a look around for any other signs of them.