Splosh!

I have taken the plunge. The courgettes - two Black Beauty and two Summer Crookneck Squash - are now planted out on the plot.

The other squashes will follow just as soon as we can get the last bed dug. They are covered in buds and raring to go!

Yesterday I also weeded the swedes, and constructed this rather nifty cage to keep the pigeons off. Sadly it won't keep the flea beetles off, and the poor things are looking rather nibbled.

We got the raspberries weeded too, with a little help from a friend. Nice to see they're putting on some good growth. Today I'm going to plant out the rest of the sunflowers between them, I think. I'll put some nasturtiums here too, as ground cover.

The pond is still looking a nasty shade of green, although the new plants are settling in nicely and the water violet is spreading already.

Next thing to try is reducing the amount of sunlight the pond gets - that should reduce the algae. When the herb plants around the pond get bigger they will cast their shadows on the water, but for now the whole thing is rather exposed. And the frogs prefer the shade too:

So for now I have erected this rather unattractive sunshade out of a sheet of black plastic, which will shade a large portion of the pond for a large portion of the day. I don't really know if it will be enough - I've heard of people covering their whole pond with a sheet to get rid of algae - but I don't want to shade the plants too much.

And finally, I see our mysterious digger has dug another mysterious hole.

There are three like this in the strawberry bed, right where it was dug last year when there were beans here! I can't imagine what he's digging for, nor why he always digs in the same places.

A little TLC for the strawberry bed is my next task, I think. It needs a good weeding before mulching with straw and netting it for the fruiting season...