The Old Vicarage B&B, Little Ouse

In the foreground I have planted Moneymaker tomatoes. Grown from seed and started in the boiler house they germinated well. There are some smaller ones in the centre which were planted later. the loose lattice of sticks around keeps the local deer off them. They don’t eat the tomato plants but sometimes uproot them until they are established.

Last year the pigeons destroyed the peas. This year, I let them get a little more established before planting out. the pea support sticks don’t use any string. Just knock in some sticks (or canes) and weave further bamboo canes though them. The good news is that they are very solid and adjustable. Also, I can add further canes up to the height of the sticks, as they grow.

The runner beans seem to be doing well again this year. As we can get a good breeze in the summer here, I always cross brace the frame to stop it ending up in a heap.

my last experiment this year is to try out a few variations on netting to see which is the most effective. I have used a wire over some of the lettuce and cabbage. I simply bough a roll from the garden centre, rolled it out and bent it in half length ways, and pegged it down with a few bamboo cane offcuts. At then end I have just placed several sticks.

I also had some thick green netting. I made a couple of quick frames by hammering some old wood together. then dug the two legs a few inches into the ground and threw the netting over and weighted it with bricks. I though it would fall over in the first wind, but seems to working ok.

The last trial was just to throw a pice of loose netting over some cabbages and see how they grow. It will be good to observe as they grow.