A Bit of a Bodge

When we had that small amount of rain a couple of weekends ago, it was accompanied by some blustery winds, and both of my hooped netting cages suffered. The first one - a bit of a makeshift affair anyway - didn't surprise me, but the more robust of the two also lurched to one side.

After having a look at how others constructed their hoop cages, I see that I am missing a vertical from each end, so it was an easy fix on the second cage - a couple of long stakes hammered in and a couple of screws into the bracing bar. Brilliant.

The more rickety of the two may need further thought - it certainly looks a bit squashed at the mo.

I also wanted to finish staking the first of the fruit beds tonight - I think this is my third go at it.  A new lump hammer should have made light work of the stakes, but I got them in to the ground by about a foot when they seem to hit a solid layer.

I poured water into the holes to soften the ground to no real avail, and then cheated by cutting a couple of the stakes down a few inches.  Screwed them to the bed sides, and that was that.

Pick half a dozen courgettes - getting a tiny bit big for comfort - a punnet of runners and the same again of climbing french beans. Picked some tomatoes when I got home too, and had about the freshest tea ever.