I think the season of easier but never-ending work is beginning: maintenance, weeding, deadheading, cutting back, propping up, harvesting …

In the morning I watered Beds 8 and 9 with ant nematodes and put some on Bed 5 with the radishes and chard too.

We’ve had an amount of rain recently, which had helped knock over a few things, so everlasting peas, Canterbury bells and the yarrow have been stood back up. I’ve also staked a couple of Ferlines because they’ve grown so strong that they knocked the netting out of line and then got a bend in their stems. Hopefully I can guide them back a bit straighter.

One of the chard had bolted, so I’ve cut it right down. I’ll leave it a little while to see if it starts regrowing. Lots of little chard is coming up to replace the bolted ones that are now on the compost heap.

The uchiki kuri is going great guns and keeps needing to be wound back into the netting. I’ve given up the idea of just vertical growth; I’m weaving them in and out as needed.

The runner beans have a number of blackfly, so I sprayed again. They don’t seem to be too detrimental to growth yet at least, and there seems to always be a ladybird around when I’m looking at them.

First big harvest: loads of chard, a few French beans and a courgette.

There was a huge ants nest in Bed 8 when I opened it up, eggs and all. I raked it up a bit and for about the first time ever the robin came down to clear up a bit while Mum was mowing and I was weeding the runner bean bed.

The borlotto beans aren’t doing badly, but some of them needed tying in as they had very funny ideas about where to go. One is already up at the top under its own stream. I’m not sure how many beans there will be – there are only a few flowers at the moment.

The runner beans are flowering well at the bottom, but there’s not much further up yet.

We’ve propped up the middle of the two big trellises as they’re now bearing a bit of weight. I’ve sideshooted the Ferlines. One of the nasturtiums has carked it, so I need to either magically fill it in with something, or hope that the others take off and fill in the gap.

The uchiki kuri are doing well, needing a little help to keep heading up. Fruits are starting to appear 🙂

I edged and turned over the broccoli bed before lunch, hoping that the robin would come and clear up a few more ants while I was away.

After lunch I put the broccoli plants in with their cabbage collars. Ants were everywhere still, so I’ve ordered some nematode worms for Beds 8 and 9  to see if I can move them on. I don’t know that they particularly damage things, but I don’t need them mining and drying the soil.

Mum and I put the cage up really easily together and the netting is pegged in place, mostly at the corners. I was able to water and drop slug pellets through the netting. When it comes to weeding, I’m hoping that I’m going to be able to unpeg and lift a side of the netting fairly easily for access. I’m certainly really pleased with how good the frame looks. I’ll have to consider other crops that need protection in future. I think I can buy extensions and new netting if I need anything bigger.

One of the JBLs had been dug up and died, so I’ve replaced it with the spare one. Hopefully the excavator won’t return.

The courgettes are getting bigger and both plants have a handful of fruits developing.

The first tomatoes are here – two Gold Nuggets.

The second sowings of carrot and beetroot are now appearing.

The one remaining Cantery Bells is having a bumper year. Maybe it just ate the others for strength. The sweet williams are also having a good year.

A good half of the everlasting pea by the apple tree has gone through the fence to next door. Next year I need to tie the two panels of the fence together better, because there’s just no way to get the plant back once it’s gone through.

First job was a bunch of deadheading and some weeding. My new snips are still being super useful. The first couple of morning glory flowers are out and are doing a slightly better job than the sunflowers at facing the right way.

I’ve taken a big pile of expired flower spikes off the lupins. There are still lots of current flower spikes and I should get another flush of flowers too.

The first borlotto bean flowers are out and there are flowers on the runner beans and gold nugget tomatoes, cucumbers and uchiki kuri.

I’ve planted nasturtiums along the front of the Ferline bed and have taken the sideshoots and suckers off the tomatoes. They seem to be doing well with the netting rather canes.

I transplanted the sunflower from the radish bed and it seemed fine at first, but had flopped over dramatically when I went back in the afternoon.

 

The four green French beans are finally in, complete with small beans already forming! I’ve sown two more green seeds and then 6 purple French bean seeds.

In an effort to keep planting out, I’ve put out a cosmos at the end of the uchiki kuri, and one here in the trellis bed. The everlasting peas are getting higher and I’ve done some weeding of the grass etc that comes through the trellis. I’ve also taken care of all the nettles that were filling the trellis and corner.

First chard harvest, with lots still left to come.

We’ve had torrential rain today in particular, so I went down to plot to see how things were faring. It’s all very wet, but it’ll be ok to garden tomorrow. If I can’t do any soil work, there’s at least loads of deadheading and weeding to be done. Only a couple of things had been knocked down by the rain. The main one, the cornflower at the front, is now propped up again.

Everything’s picked up at the back – beans are going well and the sweetcorn is all still standing. The veg bed is doing well, but I need to watch out for the poppies taking up too much space.

The purple loosestrife is starting to open, so suddenly the greenery is coming to life. The big foxglove is flowering, along with poppies and geums, so that bed all looks good.

Ferline tomatoes and Jack Be Littles all still standing – and the poppy has started flowering.

The yarrow has started flowering, but a lot of the poppies are done.

The uchiki kuri had grown a lot and these tendrils are now going up the trellis instead of across the grass. The first female flowers are starting to appear.

The pumpkins haven’t really taken off yet, but they’ll have loved all the rain. The bed needs a bit more straw on it and the courgettes need some too.

The big radishes have bolted even more, but the new ones are coming up. I need to cut some chard so it doesn’t go the same way.

The courgettes are doing well and the tomatoes are now flowering. More feeding necessary. The cucumber plants are finally taking off too and have proper leaves, which will help them grow.

The poorly foxgloves have managed to grow enough to flower. They’re not very big and are a bit hidden by the geum, but they’re my favourite white and red ones. I can see in the photo that a morning glory is on its way up too.

A very hot day, but I had specific jobs in mind. The pollen was in full force, so I spent a fair amount of time in the shade of my apple tree getting my energy back, and wearing my face mask  as much as I could to keep the sneezing to a minimum.

I’ve put two Jack Be Littles against the netting. There’s another smaller one still at home, so I might just put that on the  other side of the netting later on.

I’ve realised that I need to put the remaining nasturtiums into the bed on the other side of the netting too – they’ll be close to the broccoli there.

I’ve put six sweetcorn into the back bed and squeezed in 4 Roma tomatoes too. I fed all the newly planted stuff with general feed. So that bed is now done and can just get on and grow.

Bed 3’s yarrow are going to be a mass of colour before long!

I went down at the end of the day to feed plants and gave general feed to: pumpkin, runner beans, gold nuggets, borlotto beans, Ferlines and uchiki kuri.

Tomato food went to: the 3 biggest cucumbers (which are not great plants, but busy flowering), a little to the runner beans, a little to the uchiki kuri, and some to flowers I’ve recently put out. The gold nugget needs to set another truss and then it can get going with proper feed.

The flowers were looking pretty amazing when we turned up at the plot to put away some purchases.

I came back in the evening to do a pre-weekend stint and spent an hour weeding the veg bed to rediscover the vegetables among all the poppies and general weeds. They weren’t in bad nick among it all. I’ve also sown the second two rows of veg.

I’ve put the last cucumber in place.

I still haven’t moved the self-sown sunflower out of this bed, but I have pulled up the latest radishes, some of which had bolted, and I’ve sown more seed in the holes. The chard is doing fine.

I also managed to do all the deadheading before I went home (with my new snips), so that’s done for a few days.

I planted out all the Ferlines today. The netting is already doing a good job of holding them up. I’ve added home grown marigolds in between them and left two spaces for Jack Be Littles, which need to grow on a bit yet.

For some floral in-filling, I’ve put a nasturtium into Bed 7, to be near to the future broccoli. I’ve put one of the zinnias into the gap in Bed 3.

The radishes had grown way too big, so I’ve harvested most of them in order to try again. The second row I sowed a while ago is just starting to come up.

The lupins are looking amazing. I must get some proper photos before they start to fade.

The first courgette is coming. I’ve got new tomato food on the way; I must remember to start using it on things like this straightaway.

The radishes are enormous and the first row probably needs mostly pulling up and being resown – with an effort to harvest them sooner next time. Some of these are more like turnips!

I’ve planted three of my four cucumbers. The last one is staying at home until it gets a bit bigger. Hopefully the bees will be able to find these more easily now that they’re in the open and not in the grow house.

I took the cover of Bed 1 before lunch and edged it. I also took out a huge lump of couch grass on the left side. Goodness knows how long that took me, but it was worth it. I also used the hand fork to get out the few bits of weeds and horsetail.

After lunch I used my Wolf tool to quickly loosen the soil in Bed 1. I’d forgotten what a good tool it was and also did the soil in Bed 9, though that had been loosened up pretty well by the ants already.

I planted the pumpkins on the traditional compost mounds with Growmore and then surrounded everything with my remaining straw. I’d like to add a bit more, and have some for the courgettes, so I’ll get another bag.

The forget me not was done, so I’ve pulled it up and need to use one or two of the things I’ve got at home to fill the gap it’s left. The little seedlings and candytuft and I need to sow some more of those.

The borlotti beans – and everything else – certainly look better for having had the general feed. I mustn’t forget to keep on top of feeding in this odd year.

I’ve put two Gold Nugget cherry tomatoes into Bed 7 and with that, the bed is finished but for that last cucumber. The plants will get a bit bigger yet of course, but there might be a little space at the front I could use for something.

The weather has turned very hot and sunny, so I went down to the plot in the evening to feed and water the struggling veg. I’ve given it all a general feed and need to get some more tomato feed for this year to feed my flowers and fruiting things.

I’ve picked the first radishes – the red one is about the right size, so we’re about to be inundated with radishes, as there are plenty more to come. I’ve weeded the entire bed, sown a new row of radishes, and sown chard seed in the gaps in that row.