Actually, this particular net cage was the first one I errected, after Mike and me put up the custom built one. It survived two years and after the latest windy period was looking decidedly unwell.

By now I know exactly how to do it and it took just over two hours to dismantle the old cage and build the new one. I was lucky that Simon was on the allotment – he’s rather tall and it was ever so easy for him to nail the horizontal planks onto the uprights. Then it was a question of a few minutes to fix the net back on and hey presto – a new cage. I also changed the position of the new cage and by doing that gained a nice square area of ground. Ready for this year’s crop of beetroot.