Topic: All's well that ends well?

[tim]

The last but 2 of the Sprouts, but they've been great this year.

And now to the WSB!!

[calendula]

fab - sunday lunch I take it  ;)

isn't it great to harvest all year round

[debster]

i have psb in but its not as advanced as your white stuff looking good tim

[Lauren S]

Oh my my, those sprouts look so yummy. I could just eat a bowlful of them and that's exactly what I aim to do next winter  8)

Well done Tim...What time is dinner?

[asbean]

We frinished our sprouts about a month ago, as we were not the only ones eating them. The pigeons said they were delicious too.

This year - loads and loads of netting.  I bought a job lot on ebay earlier in the year and I'm going to cover all the brassicas completely.

[morton]

If you are sure that its pigeons asbean then this is what I have done for many years without problem despite our site being plagued with them. Its generally accepted that pigeons will not go under a net although pheasants and partridges do but that's another story.

I plant two rows of brussels [and all other brassicas] about 18 inches apart but staggered planting so the plants are not opposite each other if you get my meaning. The plants in one row are then about the regulation 24 inches apart from those in the other row.

I then have a series of low hoops over the double row to keep the net off the young plants. I then lay a net [the cheap green nylon stuff is best] over the hoops along the row. In my case that's a 10 yard long net by six feet wide.

I then put a series of vertical canes along the long edges of the net at about 4 to 5 feet apart. They need to be at least 4 feet out of the ground to stop any winds blowing the net off.

As the brussels grow they take the net up with them as it slides up the canes and the pigeons will not go underneath.

This works really well for me and saves the problem of a purpose built cage that has to be moved every year to prevent club root developing.

[asbean]

I usually do that, Morton, but last year I got a bit slack.  I plant in blocks, as we have raised beds, so the staggered method works a treat.

Unfortunately I lost a lot of plants to pigeons - I planted them, popped home intending to return and net them, got delayed - and hey, lovely meal for the blasted sky rats.

Yes, I know it's pigeons, that's the only pest we have on these particular allotments, as they are enclosed all round with an excellent fence, chicken wire and a prison wall.