Tuesday 3 June 2008

My bean poles are too short

Last night I popped up to the allotment to put a few bean poles into our newly prepared bean trench. I had purchased these poles, specially for the job, at the weekend. They looked very long when I bought them (and put them in the car) but it turns out they are not long enough. I pushed one end of the first pole down into the ground and realised that the top of the pole would not reach up to my higher support. I looked at everyone else's and realised that mine were about two foot too short. This was confirmed by our allotment neighbour (who has managed the plot for 30 years!) who called across: "you want 8 footers in there you know". He also explained that the two pumpkin plants that we have planted in Abi's Patch (in fact the only two non-flower things we've planted to date) are too close together, much too close apparently. Never mind, he's drawn a mark in the dirt so I know where to move the second plant to in order to correct my mistake (I couldn't actually move it there and then because I hadn't taken a trowel with me). I didn't feel at all stupid as I headed home with my too-short bean poles, leaving behind two inappropriately spaced pumpkin plants.

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