The weather has been so nice it has not been much of a choice, blog or work. Most evenings I have been down to the lottie. My main task has been to finish the wires and net the plot. I had under estimated how much sewing was needed. There is a wire 900mm from the soil level. A wind stop netting is fitted up to this wire. The netting is sewn to the wire. A 100mm square netting in 2m width is laid over the wires to from a roof and sides. The bottom edge of the 100mm net has to be sown the 900mm high wire. Where the netting touches the wires at the "eaves" and "ridge" a simple knot is made to hold it to the wires. Once all the 100mm netting was laid [15 pieces in all] the long side edges are sown together to make the roof whole. At each "gable end" a length of 100mm net is sown the roof wire and let fall. The 100mm is then sown into the 900mm wire. So now I have the "tent" 34 meters long by 10 meters wide and a little over 2m in the middle.
So why all the trouble. It's down to pigeons. Last year I husbanded twenty odd Purple Sprouting broccoli from seed. I kept the mice at bay, the click beetles and the catapillars only to have squadrons of pigeons comes in a eat the tops off all the plants. I had erected some 25mm square netting as protection but this was to allowed the blighters to land on the nets and push them down onto the plants for a comfy dining experience. The plant where very vigorous but were no match for the onslaught. We did get a small crop right at the end of the season which was tasty enough to have another go. I have Purple Sprouting started again this year and Russian Kale. There are cauliflower and cabbage to add the menu. However the netting being 2m high should stop the pidgeons. The upper netting is 100mm square. I think that the smaller birds and the insects will come and go without a problem. The little birds did an excellent job of hoovering up all the caterpillars so they are not to be discouraged. However the bigger birds such as; Pigeon, Pheasant, Partridge, the odd Goose and assorted Corvids will not be able to get in. The lower netting is anti-wind netting. It is the sort the professional horticultureists use to shade the plants from wind. This netting is woven in such a way that it stop 60% of the winds force. It is working. My plot is very exposed to the prevailing westerlies, my plot being aligned East/West. I have resolved to put another wind net in half way down the plot which should protect the upper end. The netting is giving me an unexpected bonus, it seems to be keeping out all the low flying insects and weed seeds. The rabbits seem to given up on invading my plot and gone to other less protected plots. So it would seems to be a successful exercise. If the netting lasts a couple of season then it will have been cheaper than lots of mini cloches.
The other advantage and one of the reason for going to trouble of netting is that I do not have to move anything before I start work. Previously I had to un-peg the mini net cloches round each veg patch, do whatever the task was and then put it all back again before I left. Now I just turn up and get stuck in.
My allotment neighbours have watched the upright poles appear a couple at a time until a full completment was present. Then the torturous wire which defined the shape. Once the struggle with the wire had ended the wind netting appeared. At first it was baggy until sown onto the wires and pegged down and then in a final flurry the roof and side netting was on and sown. There is just one post that needs godfathering and with that the job is complete.
