Carpentry is not as easy as it looks. Especially for 5 untrained horticulture students with little previous construction experience. It is a lot of fun, though. Especially when working together.

Five of us (Jessie, Lucy, Isabel, Sara and I) met today at the nursery to construct an anti-mice cage using fine mesh wire and thin wood panels. Result of the working session – an unique 250x90x45cm cage which will protect our seeds and seedlings from damage caused by mice. Will – as it is not finished yet. The cage was originally designed without a bottom surface – we planned to place the seed trays directly on the floor of the polytunnel and place the cage over them. This idea needed reconsidering as we found out that our cage is a wee bit wonky – there are some gaps between the floor surface and the cage. One solution would be to build a bottom surface using wide wood panels (remains of my old bed frame). This will be completed on Friday.

Meanwhile, I sowed some replacement bean and pea seeds (Vicia faba ‘Masterpiece Green Longpod’ and Pisum sativum ‘Ambassador’) into small paper pots. To keep the mice away I coated my seeds in chili powder.

Jessie making paper pots

Beans seeds coated in chili powder