Lime Hawkmoth

I found this beautiful specimen, on the 15th June, when clearing a bit of the undergrowth near the pond, couldn't believe how big it was, very slow moving, must have had a rude awakening in the middle of the day being woken up by my activities. Anyway I put if back in the shrubbery after taking its picture.

Dry bed and tiled edges

I've been trying to figure out where to plant a sedum I bought a while back and stumbled across an area in the flower bed next to the polytunnel, it's still a work in progress but I planted a creeping thyme and stonecrop too, the humble beginnings of a dry bed complete with a pair of old boots planted up with a colony of sempervivums. The boots incidentally were found in the little shed on our first plot, left by its previous owner, the planting up being an homage to his efforts.



I also built this raised edge below, so that the leeks could go in undisturbed by the sloping soil level. I used some lovely old roof tiles left on the swap table, I'm gonna do this around other edges that need soil retained.

Early June

The foxgloves and sweet rocket look beautiful at the moment, they were a real hit, worth the wait, I'll definately be doing these again in the shadey border

Mum and Sister planted all the leeks, a great test of endurance and no mistake. I meanwhile planted the rest of the brassica bed as seen above in the bottom 2 windows - savoy cabbage, kohl rabi, sprouts, suede, white cabbage, sprouting broc, rubibor kale, red winter kale, Nero di Toscana kale, calabrese romanesco and green curly kale. Bought some large netting and carefully stretched it across the vast sea of pigeon food.

Pumpkin bed and tomato progress

Planted out 4 squashes and 2 corgettes as seen here on the left and the first tomatoes to be planted out last month are coming along nicely here on the right.

Raised beds and gourd frame

Early June and mass planting begins proper. Planted out all tomato plants with marigold companions, salad crops like lolla rossa, coriander, basil, spring onions etc. Planted 3 pumpkins and one butternut inside the gourd frame and my climbing gourd varieties around the edges, every side of the frame is working hard to support produce including cucumbers and flowers like sunflowers and sweetpeas.