Now THAT'S more like it!

What a satisfying evening’s work!

When I arrived at the Hill, I saw David-other-half weeding his parsnips – I noticed how good his onion are looking & swelling nicely at the base. “I’ve always done well with onions on this plot,” he nodded, “so I plant a lot of them!” Fair enough.

I’d decided to re-fix the bean support, putting it further into the ground. Once I realised that the support at the other end of the bed would not be in the ground as far as this one (because the land falls away to that side, & the bed is pretty much on the level), it was a foregone conclusion – if I was concerned about this end being stable, the other would be that much worse.

It was the work of a minute to unscrew the bean support, although it took rather longer to dig down the extra 6” – going well into sandy subsoil & then a layer of decent sized stones. I got there in the end, though & re-screwed the support into the side of the bed, & then the bracing sticks.

The other end was easier – for the most part because it was previously dug land, & of course I didn’t have to dig down quite so far. Even so, Jason & his father walked past on the way to their plot & cheerfully asked if I was digging for gold.

I asked them about treatment for my mildewy gooseberries, & said I’d been advised to spray with soapy water. Jason pulled a face & said “Weeell, you need a fungicide really – how organic do you want to be?”
“I suppose the answer to that depends on how much you want to eat gooseberries!” grinned his dad. I’ll look into this further, I think.

Once the second support was in, I ran two wires between them from each end of the ‘T’ piece, & started to set up the 8’ canes – the bottom of each cane in a central line between the two supports, & they alternately splay out to each side, and are secured to the wires with a wire twist. Every so often I will need to put a cross piece to hold the wires parallel, but in essence, that’s it.

I like it – I like it very much.