Just like a busy bee I have enjoyed the good weather in May and now with the return of the rain I am able to get on with more planting and outdoor sowing.

So, what have I been up to in my garden ?

With so many sowings carried out over the last few months, there are a lot of plants that needed transplanting in the garden. Most of them were hardened off and queuing ready to go out.

So yesterday I planted out my Cleomes which were starting to look a bit sad in the greenhouse as it was getting too hot for them. I have planted them at the back of my main flower border since they grow into tall flowers with their stem developing little nasty thorns over time. Similarly my red Amaranthus also grown from seeds back in March were planted towards the rear of my flower border.

Over the weekend I also planted some French green beans outdoors, a dwarf variety called Nomad, from the RHS Award of Merit seed collection and gave them a good soaking because it’s been so dry in May that my soil is still hard to dig into.

In fact it was so hot that my early spuds required a good soaking from the water butt, although I shan’t complain about the weather!

My home sown sunflowers also moved outdoors and since it was quite a windy day I had to stake them. I have sown 2 different varieties this year: Russian giant and a red Cherokee sunflower which grows into multi-headed flowers.

My sweet corn is also out next to the potatoes but I decided to protect them from the pigeons with a plastic bottle cloche. I have already lost most of my cherry tree harvest to the pigeons and I am determined not to let them nibble the leaves out of my sweet corn like last year.

I finished planting the last of the marigolds which I sowed in modules last month. I like to use them at the front of borders or along the path, and also as companion plants for my tomatoes. Companion plants are useful in the garden since they deter predators and pests from ravaging your plants and crops.

Finally this morning I had to rescue a little black bird who had managed to squeeze in my strawberry patch under the netting. The poor little fledging got his leg caught in the net and we had to carefully cut out the net to let him free while he was struggling to get out, much to the embarrassment of his parents who were frantically twittering around us.