Roaming Zebra

Bought a pile of pressure treated timber from Wickes to build some new anti-bird and anti-fly cages for the allotment. Rebuilt the cage for the brassicas to stop the pigeons getting at them (learnt the hard way last year!).

Also built a smaller cage using scaffold net to see if it works at stopping allium fly from attacking the leeks – last year a number of our leeks and a lot of the others on the site got attacked by some sort of allium fly … maybe its the one that has been featured on Gardener’s World as not hot in the Midlands?

Also built a triangular cage covered in fleece to protect the carrots (autumn king 2) from carrotflt attacks.

Built a compost heap from pallets collected from work and the timber that our greenhouse glass came in. Also had some timber from building concrete base for the greenhouse and shed, so that got used for making up the gaps in the pallets. So we now have a two-bay compost bin.

Planted a couple of rows of Twinkle peas and Palace parsnips. Last year I lost the parsnips, so these are clearly marked this year. Put some bottle tops over the peas to protect the shoots from birds when (if!) they germinate.

Back at home, planted sunflowers (3 per pot, varioious varieties) and dahlia seeds in a tray. These will get transplanted to the plot when they are big enough. We’re also planning on adding some drift sunflowers to the plot later in the year if I ever get the planned area cleared.