Our barbecue is currently out of action because a lady wren has decided it is the perfect place in which to build her nest. Snug, safe, dry - what more could she want?
I didn’t want to lift the barbecue lid so you can see inside because I lifted it yesterday, just a smidge, to have a little peek, and Mrs Wren was ‘At Home’ as they used to say in Regency times. I don’t want to scare her away from her newly built nest and egg laying business because Andy had already accidentally cleared out her first nest when he went to cook some bacon a couple of weeks ago. If you peer closely, maybe enlarge the photo (if you have the technical nous to do so) you can see the edges of Mossy Nest Number Two poking out from the bottom of the tray.
Question of the Week: why was it ever thought to be a good idea to grow runner beans up three bamboo canes in the shape of a teepee?
Answer: I have no idea.
In my experience, training runner beans up a bamboo cane teepee might save on space and might look pretty, but it also a) makes finding the resulting beans problematic because they invariably dangle inside the teepee b) causes a veritable jungle of twisty foliage which leads to the annoying and irritating sport of Runner Bean Wrangling when it comes to removing the canes at the end of the season AND c) it provides an ideal hiding places for the bastard slugs.
Therefore, runner beans this year chez moi will be grown in a long and organised line using a substantial structure of wooden stakes, tensile wire, and garden string. I remember getting the job of ‘stringing the bean poles’ on my grandparents’ market garden when I was a youngster. I’m sure I shall be able to recall the technique.
Eight feet high garden stakes, six thereof, already installed along the current edge of the new no dig bed. I say ‘current edge’ because by the time I’ve finished with my cardboard and compost mission, the bean poles will find themselves in the centre of the no dig bed. It’s a work in progress. They will be a permanent fixture for beans immemorial.
You may also notice the blue hoops that are defending the peas from pigeon attack. I rescued the pipe - around 30 feet long or so - from the field where it has been sitting like a coiled blue snake ever since we moved here. I think that after almost six years of it remaining unclaimed by the farmer/ previous owners of Damson Cottage, I am able to claim ‘Finders Keepers’ rights over it, and so I have done so and turned it into supporting hoops for netting and fleece. Waste not, want not, eh?
This morning, I noticed the wagtails have reappeared. They nest in the dividing hedge between us and our neighbours, using Andy’s car as a landing strip and look out post. They might be somewhat disgruntled to find that a pair of robins have got there first. Along with a gang of hooligan sparrows.
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KJ
KJ