Week 5

Been pushing on. Lots of digging and starting to get more in the ground. First spuds have come through - they will need protection later but who knows, spuds for Xmas? Good ground cover while I work on the rest of it.

Had my first fire today. Cut down a large branch in the back garden so took it down to the plot. It had a burner when I got it (see Day 1!). All went ok - bit stupid to start the fire so close to my beans but I think I got away with it.

Things starting to look good - only a month on! The runners are shooting up and the dwarf beans bushing out. Courgettes have been productive - taken at least a half dozen and a few coming a week now.

Big job I did today was the new cloches. I put some netting over the bed a few weeks back - some stuff I had from my old beds in the back garden. I bought a reel of thick outdoor piping from B&Q and constructed the hoops. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out-  the hoops even push outward . The netting is just laid over, but there are wooden strips stapled to the netting at the sides. Easy to lift off, and holds the net down. Height should be fine for any brassica - pigeon proof and, hopefully, cabbage white proof! So far I've had a few nibbles from pigeons - I nearly lost 2 plants - and I've got some holes from a small caterpillar.

Hopefully the netting is small enough to keep stuff off the kale, but the plan was more just to try it out. Over winter I can switch the netting for fleece and just keep going on through - fingers crossed!

I'm slightly annoyed that I choose the below angle as the one to monitor progress on the plot as all the stuff I've done is not/barely visible!