9 Mar 2014 - The Fruit Cage Continues!

I had tried really, really, really, really, really hard to do this on my own.  I had bought the 6ft posts and sledgehammered them all in only to be beaten by two staplers!  Go figure!  Could I get them to work?  Could I buggery.

I called on my faithful assistant who suggested we buy new netting for the job, so it wasn't patchy and we could do it in one go - he's not just a pretty face!  Because I had been trying to do this myself, he said he'd just hold the netting for me and be the third hand (after he tried fixing the staplers, threw one away & found the correct staples for the other one DOH!).


Well I still couldn't manage to press down the stapler with it above my head (which isn't fair, cos I can sledgehammer higher above my head!!!), so in true allotment fashion....I delegated!




After 2 hours of us both working (the netting was doubled over on the roll), we both had to admit that anyone with less than 3 arms would have struggled on their own!  We decided on the doorway and I need to get one more post for that.  Then we sort out the doorway, but at least the netting is up before the raspberries get too big!  I've still got half a bed to play with, not sure what's going in there yet, and the pathway down the middle to tidy up.  We ripped up the edging for the second bed because it's changing shape slightly and I need to nail the boards to the outside of the netting to stop longtails coming in.

I know I would have come home a baldycoot if I'd not had help, either tearing my hair out, or having it stuck in the netting!!!

Anyway, in my last fruitcage blog, I'd mentioned that I moved the canes that had appeared in the pathway because basically, they were in the way and if they lived that was fab, and if they didn't, then they weren't any use to us where they were!  All 8 have survived and got new growth on already!










There will be a further update - need to finish doorway and then put a roof on!