We’ve had some reasonable rain and I’ve fed the sweetcorn its general fertiliser now. It’s still behind, but looks healthy enough. Meanwhile the pumpkins are growing in front of my very eyes 🙂  

Two of the pumpkins have started growing the wrong way, despite my best efforts to set them in the right direction. They’re heading out of the bed with signs of good growth and female flowers, so I need to work out how to redirect them.

The first carrot came up – with a bit of digging as it had gone into the clay.

Everything’s been watered and all the fruiting/flowering plants have had tomato feed. I just need to give the sweetcorn some general feed in the next day or two so I don’t get out of kilter.

The runner beans have been nipped at the top and we’ve tied in all the vines that were failing to climb. Overall, netting is better for beans, so I’ll try and remember to use that next year. I’ll need new netting.

First runner bean – more to come soon.

We’ve had a little rain in the last week, which was a relief. The good downpours continue to avoid us though. There were some good developments in the plot. The first 3 pumpkins have arrived. It looks like on the plants is heading straight out of the bed. I need to plant them further in next time. One pumpkin was starting to squish itself against the wood, but I think I’ve saved that now having raised it up on some straw.

The first zinnia is open. It’s nice to have good zinnia plants again after a few years of failed plants. The self-sown candytuft in Bed 10 is huge.

I did lots of weeding and deadheading and pulled up lots more finished nigella. It’s made a few spaces in the beds, which is my usual problem at this time of year. I’ve done a good job of tying up the everlasting peas – in the trellis bed in particular. It’s made a great difference.

In the afternoon I put about 50 litres of compost into Bed 3 to bring the level up a bit and cover the exposed bulbs. I’ve now finally planted the petunias that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I’ve fed them too, so I hope they’ll get a bit bigger and give some reasonable colour in the bed.

The grass hasn’t grown much, which is a big relief and I strimmed all the edges, so it’s looking smart again.

The first harvest of the season: a few overdeveloped French beans and some chard.