On bank holiday Monday we went down to the allotment to start driving in the fence posts.  This proved to be pretty difficult as we couldn’t hammer them in without digging holes first and the ground was very hard for digging.  I did a quick run round the local hardware stores to see if I could get some sort of driving tool to help get the posts in and protect the tops, but couldn’t get anything.

The net result was only a few posts in (to a much shallower depth than we’d planned) and significant aches and pains.  A very sore elbow was added to the stiff back and rumbling left knee.

Later in the week I went  up to Princes Risborough to get more fence posts and to see if I could get some sort of fence hammering tool.  I was offered a post driver (a huge metal cylinder that fits over the posts and acts like a man-powered pile driver.  This was pretty expensive, but while I had to buy this, Briants will give a full refund on it once it is finished with, which is amazing service.

By the end of this week, the first of the promised rain arrived, accompanied by thunder.  So it was down to the allotment with the post driver this morning and we succeeded in getting all the posts in – what a difference the correct tool makes!  We were no doubt helped by a further batch of heavy overnight rain, which has also helped the spuds to shoot up.

The second long weekend in a row following Easter last week has allowed a bit of extra allotment time, despite the extra golfing commitments that come with bank holidays.

Friday was Royal Wedding day today, so we used our holiday to get down to the allotment to do the final earthing-up of the potatoes to continue our war against mice (Jeyes fluid today) and to plant out the next batches of sweet corn.  The allotment is starting to look very good now and we are quite proud of where we have got to so far.

After the allotment, we went to the garden centre, where I Joined the garden club enabling us to buy the half price “giant cloche/mini poly tunnel”.

Yesterday we set off for Princes Risborough (http://www.briantsofrisborough.com/) to investigate fencing supplies and came back loaded with posts, wire fence, wire and staples.

Today we cracked on with potting-on the delicate plants, peppers, gherkins, tomatoes and aubergines.  We now have window sills full of various sorts of plants and plenty hardening off on the patio.  We have lots of marigolds and a few dahlias from the saved seed so are getting the raw material together for our floral gateway.

Over the past few days we have noticed that the peas are being nibbled by something.  The netting has not been moved suggesting that it is not rabbits, so we wondered if it was slugs or snails.  We set off down to the allotment today to find that with only a few slug trails around the peas it is unlikely that they are the culprits.  Our neighbour suggested mice, so we will get some prickly material from pruning holly, pyracantha and berberis at home to provide a barrier.  He also recommended a place to get rabbit fencing at a reasonable price and explained to Lynn that he has horses and therefore a ready supply of muck, which he is happy to share.  One of the nice things about gardeners is their willingness to share, both ideas and materials.  Our onion sets came from our swimming teacher (http://www.swim-club.co.uk/).

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