It’s been raining a lot recently, but it was clear this afternoon and the wind had died down a bit, so I was able to get down to the plot and do some weeding. Plum Corner was quite muddy but I made a good first pass at it. A bit more lemon balm needs to be removed and some nettles. I shall probably have room for a couple of cornflowers when the soil is drier.

The soil was better drained in the front bed and I got out lots of a broad-leaved weed and grass. One lupin has a rotten side and was being taken over by a lemon balm, so it’s a bit smaller than other specimens. Hopefully it might catch up a bit with some more room to breathe.

I’ve propped up the pear tree a bit, as it still insists on leaning and getting caught in the fence. Maybe it’ll stand up for a minute before it overpowers the prop. Similarly, I’ve added a third wooden prop to the saggiest fence post in the trellis bed. That’s stood it up quite well, but it could really do with a guy rope the other side.

To help the elder and apple tree out a bit, I’ve thrown a few handfuls of chicken pellets underneath them. Tonight’s rain can water that it.

First seeds of the season have been sown:

• 6 x Giant Double zinnia
• 6 x La Diva cucumbers
• 6 x Red Alert tomatoes

Absolute failures last year, so let’s see how we do this year. The tomato and cucumber seed is fresh, while the zinnias were bought last year and have multiple resows written on the packet.

I’ve used vermiculite for the first time: 1 part vermiculite to 4 parts compost.

My gate was open when I got to the plot to do what were supposed to be some quick errands. It fastened perfectly well behind me and it turned out that it was indeed a sign that I’d had intruders. But, unable to see through my cloudy windows anymore, they’d tried to break in through the door. Half the left hand panel was broken, but still in place and the door had been ripped away from the top of the diagonal support.

I’d not been down for a couple of weeks, but we’ve had some very heavy rain and there was no sign of dampness inside, which makes me wonder if this happened recently, maybe even last night.

I did a video call home to confer on the damage and then Mum came down to help me do a temporary repair, screwing the top of the door to the horizontal support and adding a piece of wood inside to help close the crack back together.

On the positive side, all my garlic is up and growing well, and the robin kept me company all the while. He was standing in a gap in the fence (now repaired, in case it worked as a foothold) when I checked around the plot and didn’t leave my side while I video called home. He took some persuading to get out of the shed.

I opened up Bed 11 and found that all the poppies had completely rotted away, leaving beautiful soil. I must think more about green manure and possibly leaving beds open for the crop to be killed by frost. This would help build up the bed filling without just buying compost all the time.
(There are two robins in this picture: one in the bed and one on the post on the other side of the chicken wire.)

I added a sprinkling of coffee from my full 20 litre bucket, and I need to add a layer of compost to it.

I put coffee over where I’d weeded on the right and moved some cornflowers into the gaps. One is particularly big. Hopefully they’ll now self-seed in the boundary bed.

The new coconut (which I’d tied to the tree after yesterday’s theft) was on the floor and pecked clean. Seems like I might not be able to put up any more without some kind of crow prevention.

In the afternoon I weeded the triangle, constantly accompanied by the robins. I pulled up the kalette and chopped it up for the compost. I’m hoping a bird might notice all the whitefly and enjoy a snack.

The garlic was almost all up this morning, so I watered the bed as we’ve not had rain in a while.

My friend the robin arrived in the tree as soon as I went to hang up the new coconut. A coconut that was entirely missing when I went back in the afternoon, most likely stolen by the crow that came into the plot a couple of times. I had both robins bobbing about; one of them likes to stand on the fencepost right by the nest box.

I weeded all along the trellis bed and into the triangle. The soil is not bad for weeding at the moment. I’ve made room near the gate so I can transplant some of the cornflowers from Bed 7.

In the afternoon we put 2 bags of manure on Bed 1. Half a bag went onto Bed 5 and the other half went onto Bed 4, leaving a little to finish from another bag. All those beds got coffee grounds.