Apart from the never ending contest between fork and bindweed there can be few fights on the plot more frenzied than the angry battle between allotmenteer and netting. Hoisting the unruly mesh over rickety canes with a stiff breeze for company can cause cussing too venomous to repeat on this website.
If we trusted our toy windmill to scare every pigeon from the plot then we wouldn’t bother. But we don’t, so last weekend it was time for the young green peas to hear the air turn blue. We can offer no sensible advice on this particular task, other than putting plastic bottles over the cane tops prevents them from shooting through the holes.
We can, however, make some suggestions for what goes inside the pea netting. The tendril producing plants demand to climb up things, so ours get a random assortment of sticks hoiked out of the nearest hedge with string tied to them, criss-crossing the pea bed like high security lasers from a heist movies. The peas can grab hold of whatever bit of structure takes their fancy, which in all likelihood will include the perimeter netting – making it even more of a challenge to take the stuff down.
