The first tulips are open in Bed 3 and some double-headed ones are coming along. This autumn I’ll be planting more bulbs as I don’t think it’s only the pink tulips that are missing. The foxgloves are taking off though and I think I have some more that will flower this year. Next year I’ll probably be complaining that I have too many.

The pond was low again and I added some rainwater and some tap water that had been left open for a few days. Its first tap water!

I finished weeding the ledge and cut the grass back from the front edge of it better. It’s been a while since the wooden pole was seen, and bugs like to hide in there. I’ve planted 3 x brachyscome Mauve Delight, which is a mat-forming daisy that can fight it out with the fleabane when that starts growing. I’ve tried to keep them away from where the sweet williams or everlasting peas will flop. In the spaces I’ve then broadcast the remaining flax seed.

I’ve made a bug dish for the birds and hung it on the fence near the coconut. There are just crushed mealworms in there for now, but it’s intended for any grub I dig up and want the birds to have. The robins aren’t tame enough to come and get anything from me yet.

All four ferns now have fiddleheads at their bases, waiting to unfurl, which is exciting. Lots of green seedlings are coming up through the bark, but I’m not sure what they are yet. There’s bound to be some corn cockle.

Bed 1 is turning a little green too, though it’s too soon to tell what’s what. I managed to give it a light watering, but it really needs some rain to get the seeds going. There are lots of borage plants coming and they’ll be thinned and topped as needed so as not to block the view.

The various sticks and branches I’ve been keeping around have now been reduced down to a few useful straight ones. I haven’t thought about their usage yet, but the strongest ones may go in with the canes.

I’ve sowed:

• 8 runner beans
• 4 x La Diva cucumbers

Chances are the cucumbers will snap in transplanting, so I’m hoping they’ll then chivy on direct sown seed like in the first year.

I’ve potted on the cerinthe too, burying them a bit to stop them being so damn leggy.

I refilled the pond after work. I’m very low on rainwater now, so this is pretty much the last test to see if it’s mended.

First time driving down this season, so I took the strimmer with me and did all the edges. In  the afternoon I mowed on 1 too, so everything’s neat for a while.

I set about re-gluing the beach patch and while I was at the pond I saw my first bee fly. It was interested in the blue flowers. On the other bank one of the white mazus has reappeared. I think the other one might be gone. I’ve put stones back on the beach and I’ll refill in a few days. Hopefully I’ll have enough rainwater in my butts for it. Rain is coming soon – we’ve had dry weather for so long, a complete reversal of last year.

Two robins were constantly gathering food from the plot. They’ve evidently made a nest in the neighbouring damaged shed.

I spread more flower seed in Bed 1 and in the front, left and right borders. It got a vague covering of compost at the end of the day, but really needs to be watered. The successional sowing should still do ok, as there are various green seedlings now popping it. I think it’s all at the point of leaving it for a few weeks in order to determine between flowers and weeds. Related: I think I’ve found the leaves of a dog violet in the woodland bed.

• (Big?) poppies: left and front
• Corn cockle: back of left bed, back of ledge
• Poached egg plant: front, left corner 3
• Iceland poppies: front left of 1, right between bear’s breeches and feeder
• Red poppy: bed 3
• Godetia: front, patches in triangle and to gate
• Flax: right of 1
• Cornflowers: over previous sowing 1, left in first gap, first gap left border, woodland bed
• Cerinthe: front, woodland
• Purple candytuft: front, left in front of teasel
• Greater knapweed,  few seeds left of Veronica

I cleared another quarter or so of the ledge, but had to make myself stop as at that point I’d not covered all the other seed. I’m planning to sow flax in the gaps I’m making on the ledge.

When I returned to the car I found three great big molehills had appeared while I’d been working.

The pond was super low and the water was all filmy. Best guess, the water dropped enough that the birds felt happy enough to get right in, splash about and empty it further. I refilled it up over the beach, so now it’s wait and see.

I sowed a half row each of beetroot and carrot. The whole bed is now under cover to protect it.

The Veronica has now made an appearance, so I took down all the dead stalks. From there I weeded more of the left border, taking out cress and grass. That bed’s about done now.

I wasn’t able to resist plants at the garden centre sale, so I’ve added 3 heucheras to the fern bed. From left to right: Leuchtafer, Coral bells, Ruby bells.

We put the  runner bean and cucumber wigwams up and took another branch off the apple tree, which had some scab.

I weeded about half the ledge and discovered a couple of smalls pieces of Californian poppy. I thought they were gone, so hopefully they’ll survive.

I went down this afternoon to refill the pond. The tuck in the liner has held quite well. There’s still a big fold, but I don’t think it’s anything like as big. I’ve pressed some grass seed into the bits of mud on the bank, and I want to find something low-growing with flowers too.

I gave a bit of water to the parsnips and onions. The onions have just started coming up, but no sign of anything else really.

The next round of seeds was sown today, with the grow house going up to hold them. We have a warm sunny week coming up, so I’m hoping they’ll be warm enough and protected in there to germinate and we’ll trap the warm air overnight.

Mind you, the seat peas that had germinated and were doing nicely outside in their covered tray then fried this afternoon, so I’ll have to resow bunch of those.

I’ve sown:

• 30 x French marigold
• 8 x Trailing mixed nasturtium 
• 20 x Jewel mixed nasturtium
• 12 x Swift sweetcorn
• 6 x ornamental gourds
• 6 x Soleo sunflower (1m)
• 6 x Hallo sunflower (1.5m)

I took a few more apple tree branches off this morning. I’ve propped them up by the bird feeder as perches. I’ve buried some more wooden discs below the feeder for me to step on. One has been firm for a while, so I’m hoping the others might be allowed to settle.

I found another wood anemone in the woodland bed and the grape hyacinth are starting to open. The lungwort are looking properly pink now too.

Into the triangle, the fuchsia has some green growth at the bottom. I weeded the remainder of the bed and uncovered a couple of bear’s breeches. I’m hopeful they might recover this year and help fill in the spaces.

The water in the pond wasn’t too cold, so I removed half a bucket of elodea and removed a number of stones from the bottom, disturbing some hornwort, which I threw back. Happily, I saw a number of diving beetles, the first of the season.

I found a small hole in the front wall of the liner, so in the afternoon I patched the hole. I can’t really move the sand without getting under the liner, so I’ve tried to tighten up the liner and glue it more closed. Really it needs  something solid to lean against it under the water, but I’m not sure a paddlestone is stable enough. I’ve put a staple into the top of the liner to help too.

The creeping jenny one the front ledge is waking up and looks hopeful. There’s a big patch of bare liner as the side goes down to the beach, which can only possibly be covered by vegetation. I mixed up some mud and started a layer there and going outside to see how it looked I discovered some new celandines beneath my feet. So I dug up a couple and planted them in the new mud.

I think I’ve found a wood anemone coming up in the woodland bed. No sign of any others yet though. Above the bed, I had a blue tit inspecting the nest box quite thoroughly. A wren came to shout on the fence too.

I’ve sown seed in Bed 1 and scattered my own compost over the top. So that’ll probably produce a load of gourds. The plan is to let those seeds germinate to show where they are, then sow some more. I feel like I might need some more flower seed, but I’ll see.

Using the physostegia stalks and some vertical sticks, I’ve built a small dead hedge against the boundary to keep the grass back. I’ve broken down all the stalks of the helianthus, but I’ve broken them down for compost and rubbish. There isn’t really room to built a dead hedge against the fence there, so I’ll probably just keep the grass back from the outside. The ground is currently covered with lemon balm, but there’s not much to do about that.

First home sowing today, evidently a year to the day from last year. I’ve sown:

• 8 x Red Alert tomatoes (7-10 days)
• 8 x Roma tomatoes (7-10 days)
• 8 x cerinthe (7-21 days)
• 24 x sweet peas (10-14 days)
• 8 x Oklahoma zinnia (4-7 days)
• 8 x Sweet Kisses cosmos (7-21 days)
• 8 x malope (7-14 days)
• Icelandic poppy – sprinkled over 12 cells (10-15 days)
• Anise hyssop – sprinkled over 12 cells (14-21 days)