April brought with it some warmer weather followed by a cold snap. It seems like a precarious game deciding what can go in the ground and what needs to wait a little longer before planting on. My potatoes caught a frost, but I hear they should recover. Fingers crossed!
I have put quite a lot in the ground this month, including peas, carrots and spring onions. I may have been naive to the pests down at the allotment, direct sowing seeds such as radishes and beetroot. Following some advice about starting crops in modules first, I’ve got a combination of direct sown and modules in case it all goes wrong. Fingers crossed one of the options works!
The Easter break and warmer weather meant that the girls have been able to come down more regularly this month with slightly less moaning. They have been delighted to find that slow worms have been making themselves very much at home on the plot. Every time a bit of mypex has been peeled back for prepping and planting, there’s been the wriggle of slow worms to greet us. Thank you to the kind gentleman who made a point of stopping to show the girls how they can be carefully handled and moved somewhere safe. At first they startled the girls, but with a bit of talk about how they are harmless and will help us to keep the slugs under control, the girls are now confident moving them to safety. They’ve even started trying to name them - WigglyWoo and SuperWorm being their favourite names.
I’m keen to make the allotment somewhere the girls enjoy going. They often bring down their bug hunting kits and having hot chocolate and snacks certainly keeps them busy for longer. They’ve also helped choose some of the seeds: rainbow carrots, rainbow radishes, rainbow chard, rainbow beetroots - there seems to be a theme here! We recently built a frame with an opening for growing sweet peas. I’m hopeful that they will grow up and create a little tent of leaves and flowers for the girls to enjoy. Thank you for the advice of making this slanted to help brace it against the wind.
Whilst trying to resist the urge to plant things too soon, I’ve been concentrating on getting netting structures and support frames in place. I’ve got a frame ready over the strawberries and one ready for tender stems and sprouting when the time comes to plant these out.
I’ve been asked to share the process in case anyone else wants to put up some netting supports too.
What you need:
upright posts (either bamboo canes or plant stakes)
Mains pipe (MDPE - 25mm so it will go over the canes)
Zip ties
Scissors
Club hammer (if using stakes)
Saw
Pipe cutter (although this could be sawn)
Step 1. Put in upright posts (either bamboo canes or plant stakes) in the four corners of the space you are covering. Make sure these are secure in the ground. For the metal stakes I hammered these in with a club hammer. For the canes I cut these to height using a small saw. Remember to leave enough height to slide the plastic loops on. Then work out regular intervals and put in further upright posts. I went for roughly 1 metre gaps so that the hoops were not too far apart and will hold the netting up off the crops.
Step 2. Cut hoops of mains pipe and slide over the top of the supports. For this I put the first hoop on and cut it to size and then used this as a guide for cutting any further hoops. Luke is a plumber so had a pipe cutter to hand. This made cutting the pipe easier. I’ve kept it at the plot so if you would like to borrow it, please just say.
Step 3. Add supports made of canes across the top attached to each hoop using zip ties to help keep the netting up off the crops but also help keep the hoops stable. I’ve trimmed the zip ties so that they don’t catch so much on the netting when it goes on.
Step 4. (Tall structures) Add further canes at the sides at diagonals again for protection in case of wind. These should be pushed in the ground and zip tied to the uprights. I’ve cut these down once in position so they don’t stick out too far.
Step 4. (Small structure) Add a further upright in the middle at either end to add stability to the hoops.
Step 5. Add the covering of your choice (eg netting / fleece / polythene). If anyone has tips of where’s best to buy this, let me know either through the comments or in person if you see me at the plot. I’ve ordered some tent pegs to keep the netting in place.
I’ve still got to decide on a bird protection set up for the fruit bushes. These are still very small this year so I don’t think a permanent decision needs to be made just yet. If anyone has any suggestions or good examples, I’d welcome these.
Comments