Potato damage

Last year's new potatoes were a disaster due to frost damage. This time, determined not to be caught out, I carefully placed a plastic tunnel over the bed to keep the crop safe. The spuds have been drawn into early growth by a lengthy warm spell, followed by a cooler period and a couple of frosts, so I was glad I had thought to add protection. On checking the progress yesterday, I can confirm that the tunnel was bloody useless and the young leaves have all been burned to a crisp. Luckily, they do still seem to be growing strongly, so ditched the tunnel and earthed up instead. Let's see if that does the trick, if not, next time I'm going to have to put the potatoes in the ground much later and see if that works.

The firing squad

As I walk down to my own plot there is a horrible messy allotment on the right hand side, surrounded by a six-foot wire fence. It seems solely used to keep a dismal bunch of scrawny, rag-tag chickens who nervously peck around on the bare earth inside their prison. The whole thing stinks, looks ugly and worst of all it is populated by a huge number of rats. I rarely see anyone there. However, last week as I headed home, I was startled to see a group of three men in drab clothing, standing in line in an eerily familiar posture, all with air rifles trained on the rat holes. I tried to strike up a conversation but they were immersed in their grim task and I quickly left them to it. By the looks of it they haven't had much success, the rats are just getting fatter by the day.