Planted out the aquilegias at long last yesterday evening. Annabelle planted one all by herself, and did a pretty good job, even though the soil was very dry out there.
Reasonable pickings from the purple beans, we watched them turn green as they cooked, and made the most amazing hue stock. The first few tomatoes are ready, although they are different from the Sungolds we had before, smaller and with a pointy end, so the different seed suppliers must have slightly different strains.
Lots of cutting back: helianthemum, thyme, trollius, bits and bobs.
Ripped out pretty much all the Aquadulce, as they’d gone so rubbish, and planted out the leeks, which were getting pretty desperate.
Have been picking the most monster huge remontant strawberries. The Cambridge Favourite have finished, and I have chopped off all the leaves, as instructed by the reverend Ken Muir’s handbook. Found and destroyed an adult weevil in the process.
The broad beans: Aquadulce are a disaster zone, with defoliation, very bad set – loads of empty pithy pods, and they all fell over despite the net supports. The Optica, on the other hand, are an unheard-of success, with lots of pods on each plant, good regular set, smaller beans but actually nicer to eat. And they are still standing, mostly, completely unsupported.
Held a (raw) pea tasting yesterday; the mangetout were the least favoured, not much taste at all; sugarsnaps were good, but low yielding. The own-seed peas for pea shoots, that have been left to grow up the bean den because of such bad germination elsewhere have done amazingly well, and were very popular.
The last sowing of mustard went to seed very quickly, and so is rocket etc. Coriander and dill are both flowering, and the lovage seed head is so heavy it is leaning half-way over the patio. Lost a pepper plant to soil-level nibble, probably the blasted leather-jackets. Purple French beans are nearly there, with a few tiny sticks teasing the impatient. Left rather too much self-seeded dill in between them at one end of the row, and they are swamped. Florence fennel is bulging up nicely. Courgette and cucumber are still being very slow to get going, except for the one on the fence.
Annuals are starting to flower – first dahlias, salpiglossis and nemesias, purple fluffy poppies (very small this year) and gazania finally opening. Rock rose has finished, and needs cutting back promptly.
Something very odd has happened to the Stargazer lilies – the leaves went purple, then brown, over a few weeks, but the flower buds continue to grow. Mystery.