Catch me in your net

After what seems like a long time of hiding away from the cold and mud, I feel I have reconnected with my plots again today.  It was sunny for most of the day, and even though it was cold and windy I was inspired to move things forwards on my land. 

I have been battling all winter with my  new netting arrangements.  I have in the past made arcs of plastic hose and draped the net over it.  This was very pleasing to the eye, as it created gentle undulating curves, however it seemed not very practical for tall plants, as the sloping sides crushed them together. 

I decided on a new arrangement, which was to make a 1 metre high fence all around each bed, secured by bamboo canes and rubber cane toppers.  I  bought some two metre wide rubble netting, which was the perfect width for the curved net arrangement.  However, I threw caution to the wind and cut it in half width wise, and created the fence.   It was easier to tend the beds, as they were open at the top this way, but there was nothing to prevent the sycamore seedlings covering the soil. 

The first reasonably strong wind made me see the true error of my ways, as it set up a ripple effect in the netting, so the canes were pushed over and the toppers were forced off.  I tried various ways of supporting the canes with bricks, but nothing worked.  I'm sure I'll be finding lost cane toppers in the grass for the next year or so. 

Today I had to face two hard facts.  The first was that my wheat crop had definitely failed, and the second was I had to put the rippling netting out of its misery. 

It was with a happy heart that I took all the nets down and made some arcs of plastic hose again.  They looked so much more sturdy, and were not at all affected by the wind.  I was full of remorse over cutting the netting, and it was a tedious job sewing the two widths back together again with string.  I roughly pinned it over the arc supports and immediately realized that they would have to be hammered down a bit, and I would have to replace the string with machine sewn seams, as the whole creation looked like some kind of monstrous poorly fitting corset. 

I wondered how the crops would like it under those protective arches, and realized that perhaps the sloping sides would give added support to things like broad beans. 

I came back home and found this image on my Twitter, courtesy of @DamienKempf:

It is a medieval illumination depicting a woman catching her lover.  It reminded me of the process I had gone through today, and made me wonder what I will find in my vegetable beds as a result of it!