A couple of thunder storms which filled the water butts again and rained off my mowing efforts, but sunny this afternoon, enabling me to get on with jobs before I go to visit my sister in Devon. Wondering whether to risk digging up one of the Zepherine Drouhin rose cuttings for her – is this too soon? They were struck last October and are growing well.

More planting out, so there are not too many pots to be watered – DS2’s job whilst staying here to take care of everything.

Saw a couple of Cabbage Whites this afternoon so have covered the brassica bed with enviromesh. Apart from a couple of Meadow Browns the other day these are all the butterflies I’ve seen this year, despite the Buddleja being in bloom. A big dragonfly was doing a bit of head banging in the greenhouse for a while until he found the way out. The hairy caterpillar is almost certainly going to be a moth – not identified yet.

Gaps in carrot and beet rows have been sown with salad leaves and, a bit belatedly, Brokali Apollo also sown.

A 3-tyre row has so far this season stood unused and growing the dreaded ground elder. Yesterday and today I’ve spent removing soil, digging down to haul out the roots, then repositioning them ready for planting – oh and added another to the row.

The somewhat pot-bound Lovage has gone into a double tyre stack. The other single tiers have Nepata ‘Blue Infinity’; Pak Choi; Parsley and a pea type plant from mystery seed collected by a friend, maybe a perrenial sweet pea.

The Puffball, harvested by DS2 whilst out checking owl boxes, was unfortunately full of maggots – we were really looking forward to sampling it with bacon and tomatoes.

Having a break from digging, lounging in quite warm sun (Bikini heat for all of 10 minutes) I was wafted away on a cloud of perfume, so when more clouds rolled in I just had to pick a few more sweet peas and decide which one is today’s favourite. Each time I look I have a new favourite – there’s plenty to choose from as I sowed 3 different mixes and 2 named cultivars. This pink shaded one is I think from the Giant Waved Mix and came out tops for today.