Sad day at 18b

No pics today folks. Remember the fruit netting I erected a while ago? The one I spent hours on, making sure it was bird-proof?

Well it wasn't.......I went to the plot today and discovered a dead bird caught in the netting on the inside. I think it was a thrush. It had obviously found a hole, flew in and then couldn't get back out again. The poor wee thing had got caught in the netting, his foot was knotted up in it, and had either run out of energy or choked himself in the netting.

I feel quite guilty about this. It was definately bird-proof when I first erected it but I must have been careless after picking strawberries the other day and not sorted it properly again.

This bird, just doing what nature intended by picking berries, was cruelly killed in it's prime.

I overcame my fear of all things dead and unpicked him from the netting and gave him a proper burial.

Hopefully that'll be the only dead animal I come across at the plot - I can't take another guilt trip.


Speak later, Christine

Told you I'd been working here.....

So skip a couple of months and we're here!

What I've got so far

shallots - they're doing fine on the surface but I don't know about underneath

carrots - hmmmm, not too sure about these. Following advice from a fellow plotter, Tooty, I haven't gone near these, either to thin or weed. So they look atrocious BUT I have confidence in them and we shall see when they are uprooted.

beetroot - I'm really not confident about these at all. There's a few seedlings but nothing to what I sowed earlier.

cabbage and broccoli - looking good - slow, steady progress

spinach and lettuce - happy with these, especially the spinach. Looking good

maincrop tatties, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries - dead chuffed with all of these.

And speaking of fruit, today I finally got round to constructing a bird-proof zone for them. I've never done anything like this before but I think it looks quite good, even if I do say so myself haha. Fingers crossed it stays upright because the wind can be quite strong at times. There's not a lot of shelter. We're sandwiched between the wide open space of a golf course on one side and the harbour entrance on the other.

My mum and dad were at a plant sale this morning and kindly bought me small brussel sprout plants. Now where to put them?......

Speak later, Christine