Potager netting

Better. Don’t you think?

The grey netting is so much more discreet than that green.

I had to do a fair bit of searching, but tracked down mosquito screen netting from a sort of local (hah, we venture far and wide for our gardens) hardware store.

It was on a roll and came in around 8 euros a metre. There was that ‘why didn’t I pay more attention to Miss Hind in school maths class?’ moment when I had to calculate the volume, length and height of the whole bed before going for ten metres.

Yes. A lot.

A lifetime’s investment! My first ‘frivolous’ shopping since March. You know all the things you will trot out when you are shelling out for an aesthetic improvement rather than a necessary one.

And of course I drive past all the hail nets protecting the blueberry crops on my way to town and ask ‘I wonder where they buy that sort of thing?’ Probably on a 100 metre roll. But I must investigate. It is similar. And discreet. And tough.

We are coming up to the one year anniversary when a huge hail storm ruined nearly all our crops and gardens. One brief hour of madness that had trees denuded of leaves, soil washed away, every single plant shredded….

Love gardening.

At least the kale under the net are happy. Not a bug. Not a cabbage white butterfly. Bliss.

I even had one of the panels in my potting shed pocked with holes. I have no idea why the others weren’t touched. But it does mean I am now working hard to get the Virginia creeper to snake across the inside of the space to hide the mess.

No, wait, you’ve seen that recently. Have a picture of the potting shed resident instead.

She guards the entrance so that if I want to get in to do some vital thing like grab my secateurs or water my stone pine seedlings, I have to fling croquettes in her direction so she will let me pass.

Not a ferocious guardian of the space, but a fluffy mad one.