Better late than never?

Hurray! The leeks are in!

A bit of rain over the last few days has meant that at last quite a few of the jobs which have been waiting - desperately - for some moisture in the soil, can now be tackled.  Trouble is, the dry period went on so long that there are far too many jobs stacked back!

I managed to get the edge weeded around the shady area of the veg patch...and that inspired me to think perhaps waiting for the perfect time to lift the cardboard and weed the heavy, damp bed at this end was never going to happen - after all the cardboard has been down 3 months already! So I decided to try the old Dowding no dig here too - I put on an extra layer of cardboard on top of the old tatty one.... and then topped the lot with 2 inches deep of the Viridor green waste compost that I still had left after doing the 2 new veg beds:

And doesn't it look so much better? The wood around the edge is just placed temporarily whilst I was barrowing the soil, to keep an even depth all the way across the cardboard and so it didn't keep spilling over onto the path when I raked it about.  Once the cardboard underneath has moulded a bit and the soil has settled I will take the wood away.  For now this bed will stay like this, just to knock out the light and continue killing the weeds.  Then perhaps I might use it to set out my nursery of baby wallflower plants etc... we will see how it goes.

I remembered to take a few snapshots of plant groupings in the circle bed which I particularly like and may need to remember to keep:

Fabby lavender blue and lime green alchemilla flowers

More lavender with hot fuchsia coloured Geranium psilostemon clambering through it

That hot pink short geranium I didn't like the colour of in May? I like it now it's associating in a more relaxed way with the lime green alchemilla froth to temper it...

Just to remind myself that these plants might have potential (with a little tlc and pruning and space!) Hydrangea (its a good job I seem to be developing a soft spot for all these hydrangeas, isn't it?), violet blue hebe, I think, though poor thing is dreadfully squashed...and i'm not sure what this variegated wee thing is, a myrtle perhaps? Either way, its quite a muted variegation and looks nice.