The wigwam went up today and I’ve planted out 6 cucumbers of varying size and strength. The weak floppy one had finally crisped up again at home, but so little progress was happening with so many seedlings, that I decided that today I’d throw lots of them into the deep end and see if they like all the extra food and less volatile supply of water.

A sunflower and a couple of zinnias have gone in here too, but as with Bed 7 they’ll have to fight the gourd plants when they get going. Those plants seem fairly strong, so this years plans/hopes for a bumper year have changed to the verdant look of gourd vines, whatever they turn out to bring.

Three runner bean seeds have come up so far, so runner beans are looking ok for this year so far.

The one parsnip I had was eaten by a slug overnight. I’ve put a sunflower in the middle of the bed for the hell of it, and while I was making that hole I uncovered a germinated parsnip seed. So I’ll leave this bed a little longer and see if any more parsnips deign to grow.

I’ve fed the onions with chicken pellets. The one little kalette had turned a more promising purpley colour, so it’s been thrown out into the plot too.

Similarly, the fairly terrible zinnia seedlings have gone into Bed 7 to sink or swim. I’ve put the rest of the lobelia out, mostly here, as well as a couple more in the left border. The netting has now been removed with the hope that the blackbird will be deterred by the number of plants.

In Bed 2 more carrots are coming up in the original line and I’ve sown a second line. Still no chard, but I’ve now sown the second half of the line.

There was a squirrel blocking my path when I got to the allotments this morning. It had found something to eat, and continued to ignore me even when I put the window down to remonstrate with it.

We had lots and lots of wonderful rain and a thunderstorm last night. Of course that’s what the allotment had been waiting for and suddenly the beetroot had arrived, more carrots had popped up and even my first one or two potatoes had crowned.

The guys added wood to the bottom of the terraced bed and did lots more levelling of the ground. A nice sandy top soil has been added over the top. The area for the slabs along the side of the shed has also been dug out. The water butts will be moved and will get their slabs when I’ve used up the water in them watering my plants and the grass.

In the morning I fed everything with seaweed solution. The stunted tomatoes have purple stems, which is a sign of malnutrition / stress. I’m trying to buck them up, but I’ve also sowed some more seed as late backups.

• 2 x Roma
• 6 x Czech Bush

The allotment started the day like this. While I was waiting for the team to turn up, I tidied up the stones by the water butt, so the little perch is now straight and the bricks are keeping the grass at bay a bit. I did some weeding and found that round the back of the shed the field vole had been up and under the bag of leaves and had broken through the bag and dragged out a few leaves. Putting the tile back over the tunnel should stop that.

To further chase non-germinating seed, I’ve sown a new row of salad seed in Bed 8. This time I’ve used the other packet of seed, as it’s germinated in the same compost at home with no problem at all!

All of the turf has been stripped now. Levelling and grading tomorrow, filling in the bottom of the  sides of the raised beds. Since we’re not getting much rain, and the weather has been pretty hot, we’re abandoning the idea of turf and going to seed for all of it.

We’ve tied up all the everlasting peas a bit, to start them on their way to controlled growing this year. First step is to stop them falling forward onto the smaller plants in front. I’ve given the one in Plum Corner a few strings to try and grow through as it will eventually get a bit difficult to get to.

The spraying of the lupin worked really well. The big infestation has disappeared; the big lupin aphids are nowhere to be seen. I need to give it another spray soon to get rid of the little bits. The  pear tree needs its annual treatment too, although it did get some the other day.

I’ve putted some crappy nasturtium seedlings into the bug hotel. There’s not much soil in there, so we’ll see how they do. There’s a glorious Californian poppy at the base of the pear tree, which overwintered.

Aside all the various cucurbit seedlings in Beds 7 and 11, a borage has popped up in the back bed, pretty much in the middle of the cucumber wigwam. So seeing as so much else is refusing to germinate/grow I’ll leave it for now.

I’ve planted a tray of lobelia around the place – at the front of the runner bean bed and at the front of the borders where there was room. The other tray may end up going in Bed 9 too, if there’s no sign of all the candytuft that I put in there.

There’s still no sign of seed growth at the allotment, so I’ve resown rows of carrot, chard, beetroot and parsnip. In some cases I could see some of the previous seed, so it’s just sitting there doing nothing.

Aphids have arrived on the pear tree as usual, as well as the yarrow, and the lupin by the gate. I’ve sprayed them all, which caused many of the big lupin aphids to fall off. The lupin aphids are apparently pretty vigorous, so I need to keep spraying them.

I’ve planted out the runner beans. It’s very early, but I started them earlier than I needed to and we only have warm night ahead. They were about three feet long, so getting to be a nuisance at home. I broke one, but it should be fine. I shall be sowing seed direct in between the plants, as they’re currently double spaced.

On the other side of the netting I’ve sown purple and mixed candytuft seed all along. I realised that the blackbird seems to have avoided beds with string in them, so I strung a zigzag across where I’d sown the seed.

I’ve planted out the cornflowers into Bed 7 – and only later did I realise that yet again I’d forgotten that I’m meant to putting a pumpkin in this bed. I’ve put seed all over the place too, so it might be that I have to shift some flowers if they’re in the way. The pumpkins aren’t ready to go out yet though.

I had an amount of cornflower seed left over, so I’ve put it among the slow verbenas on the left, at the front of the front border, a few in Bed 3, and behind the poorly salvia near the elder tree (it has a few green sprouts at the base).

There’s still no sign of veg, so I’ve resown the first lettuce row. I’ve also sown a similar mix at home in the trough pot.

At home I put the grow house up and sowed some more clary (killed the others) and sow a small tray of Peppermint Rock cosmo too, so as to combat my eternal fear that there will be a hole somewhere. The borders have already almost filled, so I just have to wait slightly longer than I think each year.

The very first parsnip is up. No sign of any others yet.

I did weeding, digging up grass, and deadheading all around the plot, including cutting back grass that’s coming through the fences. Like with tying up the everlasting peas, I want to try and keep on top of this, even if in some cases it’s just breaking off grass at ground level.

The flower seed I had broadcast in Bed 7 was starting to come up, so we took off the plastic and found that the broccoli netting fits beautifully. Now the flower seeds and all the volunteer gourds  are free to grow without the blackbird digging them up. I also need to sow more seed in this bed.

We put up the netting in Bed 9, ready for the runner beans. THere’s a bit tacked on the end to make it reach. I have other pieces of netting, but if I need netting for here next year, I’ll probably need a new set.

The tomatoes and peppers have been tiny for ages, making no progress. I’m hoping that some fresh compost and another round of seaweed solution will help them along. They’ve been potted on, out of the fibre pots, along with lots of zinnias, some sunflowers, and the kalette.

At the plot the first carrots were finally showing, next to some slightly bigger lettuce. Still next to no germination. Reading back through previous years, getting the veg up could happen around now, or it could still be a couple of weeks.

At home, I sowed a small tray of Carmine King Californian poppies, more marigolds in the big tray and transferred the few good marigolds into their own little pots.

The runner beans are taking off big time, but I discovered that I was missing a French bean, so that’s been resown.

I’ve put the shop lobelia into slightly bigger cells so that they don’t die on me all of a sudden. That left a row of empty cells, so I’ve sown blue clary in there.

At the plot, we added some water to the butts and tipped out the useless lobelia seed tray out along the left border. I added the two clumps that had grown a little more carefully near the shed, but didn’t actually bother to water them.

The blackbird had been digging about again in a few beds, so we tidied up and then covered Bed 7 to curtail the biggest mess.

Some major digging had been happening in Beds 7, 10, 11 and a few little bits elsewhere, with even hügel sticks pulled out. I was all prepared to blame the field vole, but when Mr B came along, he was able to share that he had seen the culprit in action: a blackbird. The compost is so dry and loose that it’s really easy for the bird to kick about. There’s no telling where my flower seed is now. I could really do with some rain.

Today’s job of planting the potatoes (instead of the kalettes) was heralded by three potato haulms sticking out of the compost heap. I shall let them grow as long as is practical just for fun.

I’m trying a new method with the potatoes: not earthing up, but instead burying the potatoes nice and deep and letting them get on with it. I’ve put them 8″ down, which is in the soil below the newspaper layer. I’ve added half a bag of manure on top of the bed too, which wasn’t much thickness and I’m sure the blackbird will kick it off before tomorrow.

The apple tree is blossoming now and the pear tree is now showing a number of small fruit.

Although there’s been no rain to set off the seeds I’ve sown, the perennials are really waking up now. Bed 3 is a good example with its poppies and yarrow. The helianthus is also much bigger than last week. And the new perennials I’ve planted are all doing ok.

At home, I potted on my shop-bought lobelia into slightly bigger pots and sowed 6 new La Diva cucumbers. I’ve evidently overwatered a couple of my cucumbers as they’ve gone limp and died. Two remain and have true leaves though, so hopefully they’ll make it.