Colditz

My neigbour's plot has been referred to by some as Colditz due to the amount of wire fences around it, but I've always thought that looks like a good idea - why grow a row of carrots to feed the wild rabbits?

After the appearance of some little anonymous visitors to my garlic patch, I realised that protecting each individual bed would take a lot of time and money, so I've decided that a better long term approach will be to fence round the edge of my plot.

My own fortifications have begun, the cheapest supports I can find are half-round fence posts, 2.5m for £2.50 from Wickes. I was going to order wire online, as during the winter that was the cheapest source; but Spring is a different matter, because as the seasons change I notice that places like my regular supermarket have started stocking gardening supplies, so I will continue to shop around. (Asda, 10m x 0.5m chicken wire for £7.97).

Success! (for now at least)

Previous impatient trips to check on progress of the garlic bulbs have been met with bare soil, so I was somewhat dubious that anything would happen.

On one such visit over Christmas, I found pawprints, and a hole dug in the middle of my garlic patch. So I duly fixed up some posts and chicken wire, to keep out whatever it was that had visited ("got a rabbit problem, sir?" the shop assistant quizzed. "Cheaper to shoot the rabbits, sir," he said, when he saw the price of the wire I was buying). I do feel special, that out of the whole enormous allotment site of over 120 plots, this little creature chose to visit mine. I may well fence off my whole plot soon, as my experienced neighbour has done, rather than mess about fencing off each little bit. It may be more work at first but should be worth it in the long run. Still, fence up; no garlic.

But this week was different. I popped down to the site laden with bags of fresh horse manure, free from a local paddock. The sun was, unusually, out from behind the clouds, and as I walked down the slippery track I thought I caught a glimpse of a fresh green stalk through the wire- could it be true? I daren't look directly at it! I scurried past and dumped down the bag of shi- I mean, manure, with my back to the garlic bed. Then I snapped round quickly to catch it unawares, and - nothing. No- wait- a trick of the light! Hurrah! virtually every bulb has started to grow!



I can't help being excited, even though I haven't harvested a single thing yet.

Moog thinks: "We're going to stink, if we eat all that garlic."