The pond was low again today, which is a pain. I’ve cut some of the plant roots back and it turned out that they were really taking liberties and had even spread into the folds of the liner. I refilled the pond, but I’m also wondering if the tape has come up a little. The crows are still messing about with the pond and had left me one of my pebbles on the gate.

I never got around to doing a mid-week visit and so there was a lot of deadheading to do and a lot of big beans to pick. Mr B asked me how me my tomatoes were doing as his were soft and didn’t have any flavour. I gave him a Red Alert to try, which was apparently full of flavour, so he’s concluded that he’d been overwatering. So evidently I don’t need to worry too much about the fact that I don’t water very much.

The mint has taken over in triangle and as a result my dahlia is getting sat on. That’ll be another autumn job – to give it proper room to flourish. 

A feeding visit to keep everything growing well. A good deadheading session is already necessary again.

The finished nigella needs to be taken out of the woodland bed, but it’s still looking good overall. The larkspur is doing well and a beautiful little helianthus –  no doubt from the bird seed, even though its chipped seed – has appeared. I’m looking forward to seeing what seeds down for next year.

I was accompanied in the plot by a very young robin, who was surprisingly brave. After feeding, the harvest included blackberries, tomatoes and beans … although apparently I didn’t take a photo?

Today I strimmed the edges to make everything look tidier. In the left hand bed one of the smaller logs has been raised up by something disturbing the earth underneath it. The morning glory has just started to flower. Of course some of the early ones have gone straight next door and are facing that way.

I’ve supported the cucumber better. None of the fruits has survived yet, but there’s still time.

Harvest-wise I was able to take home the first tomatoes, beetroot and carrots. Getting the carrots out of the ground is a hell of a challenge, but netting the bed seems to have been a good idea.

I cut the borage back more. It’s probably already seeded down everywhere already, but not much will be kept next year. I’d forgotten how tall it gets, so I’ve taken a photo of the plot from the top of my ladder, as well as the usual panorama.

I did two buckets of weeding this afternoon. The rain we had was great, but the weeds definitely then took advantage. I also made a start at last on removing lots of plantains from the grass. I also lost my balance among some verbena and ended up with a really nasty scratch on the back of my arm.

Something has been pecking at the ditch log, which is interesting. It’s a very dry log, so I’m not sure what there is to be found within it.

I wanted a record of the sunflowers that are doing so well this year. Seeing them flowering like this – and for so long – makes me want to have lots all over the place, including the borders. The physostegia seems to be going great guns this year too and has definitely been a big draw for the bees. There are definitely fewer insects this year though. I’ve barely seen any shield bugs.

The tomatoes are really close to being picked.

The oca is growing well. Time will tell what grows underneath all the foliage.

I’ve always avoided growing tall things in Bed 1 as I want to do the panorama and see my progress, but this year the borage has grown quite tall, so it’s getting in the way. So today I’ve added a bonus panorama.

I did a mammoth 2.5 hours deadheading session in the evening, having a really good clear out of the sweet peas in particular. All the cosmos are done, the calendulas, whatever needed snipping in Bed 3 …

The nasturtiums are starting to wane a bit, so I’ve cut them back roughly. There’s some new foliage coming, so we’ll see if it amounts to anything.

We only went down to do a harvest of runner beans and sweet peas, but as soon as we were through the gate, I saw that the water level in the pond had dropped dramatically. Fortunately I found the damage up on the beach, just about within reach. There was a line of small holes and one bigger hole. It seems like some violent pecking has gone on; I can’t really think what else would have done it.

I cleaned and dried off the area and covered the holes with duct tape. Then I cut a piece of PVC and taped it over that. In order to prevent further beach bed pecking, I put the paddle stone there and half covered it with stones. I would rather use it to cover the side, but it was always slipping down, so I guess it doesn’t matter. I keep meaning to go back and see if there’s any more farm rock to be had, though I think it’s a bit absorbent and wicks the water a little.

Once the fix was done, I refilled the pond with rainwater so it was at least no longer super low. I saw various bits of wildlife while there, so all is well in spite of the dropped level. If the fix doesn’t hold, I’ll have to clear it out again and UHU it, rather than tape it.

The tomatoes are ripening and the first will probably be ready at the weekend.

I’ve finally managed to mow the whole plot on level 1 now. The clover just has such a high water content that I kept having to unclog the bottom of the mower, so I carried a bucket around with me for all the green mulch. I’ve done the deadheading too, so the plot is looking midsummer-great and deserved a few photos.

Cornflowers are blooming in Bed 6 and in the woodland bed, where larkspur has turned up from seed casting too. It’s about time it finally germinated. Hopefully those two will self-seed for next year, along with poppies and corn cockles, taking over a bit from the weeds that I’ve allowed to do their own thing.

I concluded that the suddenly poorly onions all have powdery mildew, so l’ve harvested all 50 before they get any worse. Any marks beyond the mildew are a matter of infection taking hold and becoming worse.

A couple had slightly mouldy bottoms, so they might not dry off all that well. The rest are now laid out in the grow house with the garlic.

The morning was a bit frustrating after good runner bean and sweet pea harvest. I headed off to the garden centre for bedding plants for Bed 3, then to the nursery and then back to the garden centre, ultimately picking up two planters from the front of the shop. I dismantled the pots into their various parts, which were part bedding plants and part white fuchsias. They’ve now gone into Bed 3 with a heavy layer of compost added around them.

I’ve put the remaining stones and gravel into the pond. If the beach becomes low on stones again, I’ll just have to fish them out of the pond and put them back. Things had been rather displaced with evidence of bird bathing this morning.

It’s been a month since I fed the plants, but that’s now finally done again. Mostly with tomato food, but some general fertiliser for Bed 3 and the perovskias. There’s now a new cucumber to encourage. The onions, oca and veg were given water. The last sown seed for the carrots has germinated,  filling the holes.

More deadheading and before I did the mowing, I cut the borage back. It’s now easier to walk down the paths without being scratched. I’ve also made more room around the tomatoes and cucumber. I’ll take off more in due course, but I have visitors coming on Wednesday so I didn’t want to make it look too harshly cut back.

One left – no tomato; on the right – tomato uncovered! I need to look out for trimming the tomatoes too as they look a bit dense in their cages at the moment.

I like the idea of doing more sweet pease next year. If I do them (or anything else) on the netting again, I need to not worry too much about lobelia at the front – candytuft will do and is big enough to hold its own. The lobelia has become completely hidden under the leaning peas.

I did some weeding here and there. Having picked up another sack of coffee grounds at the office, I also finally sorted out my backlog. A bunch went straight onto the compost heap and the rest filled up my bucket.

I’ve harvested the garlic now. A pretty good harvest; just a few had rotted and went straight to the compost bin.

Visits to the allotment are quite generic at this time of year. Just weeding and deadheading and making sure everything’s ok. I’ve cleared the nigella out of Bed 3 and made a start at clearing / tidying the trellis bed now.

It’s going to take a while and I’ve still not got the plants right. While the toadflax and corn cockles have gone to seed, the everlasting pea has fallen forward onto it. I might need to give up on the surviving peas and find the best long-lasting perennials for that provide filler for longer. I think some larger scale logs would be good for better blocking and tessellation.