I took the afternoon off to do the weeding that has been waiting for me for a while. I filled a bucket and two-thirds with small weeds, so it was a good job jobbed. I did the back bed, the delphiniums, the bean and veg bed, the middle bed, the Ferline tomatoes, the sunflowers and Bed 3.

The zinnias have started opening and the whirligigs are really pretty. I think I’ll have to do them again.

I fed the runner beans, French beans, tomatoes and sunflowers with tomato food. The marigolds around the Red Alert tomatoes look particularly good for having been fed from time to time.

While I was feeding stuff, I had to pause while Mrs Blackbird dug a big hole in my carrots, chasing after red ants. When she flew off I watered the bed and hole and then filled it in again.

Things aren’t bad, but the runner beans are still smothered in black fly, though I do see the odd ladybird and ladybird larva on there. The second set of veg also hasn’t come up and they’ve clearly had enough time now. I think I have one carrot there and that’s it.

The flowers are entering a bit of an in-between phase, though the sweet peas and delphiniums are waking up. The vegetables are getting there though. The first Red Alert tomatoes are here and little runner beans and yellow French beans are arriving.

The French bean plants seem to be taking their time to grow. I think I need to feed them some more and hope that they’ll speed up a bit.

Just a quick watering visit in the evening, as it’s been so dry recently. I wasn’t sure if my new Californian poppies would flower this year, but now I have the answer.

The pink yarrow in the dry bed isn’t just ok with the dry soil, it seems to be thriving! A few cornflowers and a few seedlings are sort of coming up, but I’m wondering if the yarrow might just live here now.

The sunflower bed is growing well. The far sunflower has had its centre eaten, but is branching out. I’ll see how it does. The nicotianas have been growing very nicely. Nicotiana Baby Bella are just annuals, so, like the cosmos they’re not going to help me fill the borders for next year.

The left boundary doesn’t have much verbena in it any more, but the viper’s bugloss is coming up – though only in little vertical plants so far. So it’s not a full bed yet, but may help for next year. I’m still waiting to see if the foxglove will do anything this year. I hope so – there are a couple in the back bed too.

I never got around to doing a Friday start on the deadheading (surprise!) so the morning shift was all about that and a bit of weeding. The geums had reached the point of 90% needing to be cut right down, so just the left boundary alone took nearly an hour to do. Those two buckets are just from that side.

I still somehow have about 3 trays of seedlings that can go out. So I really did do well on raising seedlings this year (well done me :)). I think the delphiniums are doing well, but won’t be huge this year. The seeds that I’ve sprinkled on the compost are doing very well, so now I’ve added my home-grown French marigolds, plus some snapdragons to the bed. I’ve kept back a few snapdragons, just in case they get eaten immediately – they’re not huge plants.

I’ve tucked snapdragons in here and there in the boundaries and have realised that spreading the viper’s bugloss seed on the left-hand side has actually worked. What I thought was all calendula is actually partly viper’s bugloss, with the pink/blue flowers coming. So that should mean I can never get rid of it from there ever again!

My left fence is no longer covered well and the view to next door is almost completely open. I don’t want to throw them into darkness, but I do need some photo camouflage.  I think this side needs some ledge-esque renovation.

• Soil improvement
• Remove some lemon balm?
• Put in a couple more sweet peas?
• Is the verbena going to bulk up again?

More flowers are opening and the pink yarrow is particularly pretty.

Bed 1 looks quite full now, mostly due to the huge amount of borage and viper’s bugloss! I wonder if they’ll all need staking (which won’t work as usual), or if they might hold each other up?

The seeds I sowed in the space at the right hand side are coming up too now, so I’m reasonably confident this bed will be full, just maybe not in such a delicate meadow style as I had planned.

The veg and the beans are doing very well, but I’m still waiting for the 2nd lot of veg to come up. Lots of deadheading to do when the weekend comes.

With all the flowers and buds now showing, it was time to mix up a load of tomato food and feed everything.

The first Wey runner bean flowers are opening.  There’s quite a bit of blackfly, but there are a couple of ladybirds at work and I’ve now sprayed the clumps they weren’t near.

There’s no sign of the second sowing yet, but the first beetroot are starting to look good.

The crab spider was busy eating thunder bugs when I was going around with my camera, then when I went around with my phone, it had moved off to the edge of the flower to swipe at insects that were making the flower move.

The ledge continues to be an absolute highlight. I should get some more sweet william sown for other boundaries.

Lots of flower buds have appeared: both tomatoes, a delphinium and the runner beans.

The first cerinthe bud (or is it a flower?) has turned up and the sweet pea on the right hand side is starting to bloom.

We’ve had an amount of rain in the past few days, but you’d barely know it to look at the surface of the soil. Digging it wasn’t bad though and I got the dahlia turned over for a second time and then put in the plants. The pinched plants are so bushy that there isn’t room for copper collars, so I hope that the slugs leave them alone. And that the million ants don’t take against them somehow.

After lunch I finally planted out the Californian poppies which have been back and forth between home and the plot so many times that they must be dizzy. I’ve put most of them in with the Ferlines and dotted a few more in the middle bed.

I’ve put some more cerinthe into the back bed. The cosmos nearest the apple tree has been eaten up one side, so the top is looking a bit precarious. But that’s what happened to the cosmos in a previous year, so maybe it’ll still make it.

I’ve put the unknown wildflowers from the Ted X seed ball into the front bed. Digging carefully to put these seedlings in turned up subterranean shoots, so I hope there’s more life coming from the various seeds I’ve broadcast over the previous weeks.

I’ve noted some more poppies coming up (ridiculously thickly again) in Bed 1 and in the left border.

I thinned out the cornflowers from Bed 1 a little. I probably won’t bother doing it any further, as they all seem to be standing up ok. I’ve transplanted the thinnings into two corners of Plum Corner, so that’ll a be nice bit of filling if they take.

A day off, seeing as I should have been in Austria at this point.

In the morning, Mum mowed the grass for me, as the less worn edges had suddenly grown high and turned to seed. I did some deadheading and weeding, while blowing my nose and wearing a mask to try and keep the hayfever vaguely under control. Mum also got the last of the grass out of the back of the left bed for me. So now I can see the holes a bit better for filling.

In the afternoon, I filled in spaces with zinnias and cosmos. I added more to the veg/cosmos bed and middle bed.  They’ve gone into various places along the left border too. I’ve stuck a cosmos into the trellis bed too, in front of the foxglove that isn’t doing anything yet. I’m not sure that bed is getting enough sun to get the new plants to really kick off.

I put some more cornflowers into Bed 3, as well as a few coreopsis. They shouldn’t mind the dry soil. The other cornflowers and the yarrow certainly seem happy enough.

I’ve also thrown down more seed and compost mix on Bed 1 and Bed 3. This is the last time I can do that this year, so fingers crossed it ultimately works.

I did a count up and found six apples. There may be a few more. But clearly the good cut hasn’t done anything for it biennial nature.

More flowers were open when I went to the plot this morning. I’m pleased that what nigella are left are the mixed ones. I removed them too carefully last time, so this year I’ll let them seed down a bit more.

I walked around the plot with a big smile on my face, discovering the first lupin, Canterbury bells, wonderful snapdragons.

The two additional runner beans have now appeared. The plan is to have them wind around the big poles.

I pushed the sweet pea up on the right hand side and discovered various plants underneath, including a flowering cornflower. I’ve removed a bunch of grass from the back of the bed too. With experience from last year’s grass seeding down, plus this year’s hayfever, I’m trying to keep on top of grass etc turning to seed.

There is still no sign of the seed I sowed in Bed 3, so I’ve now added the cornflowers I raised at home. Hopefully they won’t mind the dryness.

I turned over the dahlia bed and disturbed hundreds of ants. The robin had a look from the fence, but didn’t dare jump down. Happily though, the blackbird came to help me clear up before they all disappeared out of reach.

I’ve found 2 apples so far. Big harvest!

The small bed is now planted up with small sunflowers, a big cosmos and a couple of zinnias. Might be a bit crowded, or beautifully full. Let’s see.

A pretty windy, cold day today, so in the end, I decided not to go down to the allotment. I had some potting planned and ultimately spent all day doing that.

Top row: some tiny seedlings, now all in the same tray; plus the dahlias, all pinched.
Second row: Zinnias, almost all pinched. Many of them were badly hit by leafminers, but new foliage is now replacing those leaves. I’ve cut off all bad foliage so some plants look a bit spindly, but much healthier. The two other trays contain marigolds, coleus, snapdragons etc, which are all too small to go anywhere.
Third row: non-great calendulas, but now pinched; pretty good marigolds, pinched; reasonably straight cerinthe, pinched.

The remaining bendy cerinthe have now gone into the pot outside the conservatory.

Tomorrow I hope to get down to the allotment, as I have trays and trays of zinnias and cosmos and all sorts that need to be shoved into the ground and told to get on with it.