Solar panel vs Salvia. The salvia will be the clear winner without human intervention. I will move the panel back for now, to allow it to capture more sun rays; the plant can be cut back later in the year. The garden is truly Knepp-like at the moment, after being left to its own devices while the humans were travelling.

I imagine a plant-like solar harvester that can autonomously reach towards the sun like a plant stem or a tree branch. I did see a design once, for an array of solar panels which was modelled on the leaves of a tree. Could woods of tree-like solar harvesters replace fields of solar panels one day?