The chooks are out every second day or so, clearing the area of bugs and grubs, fertilising as they go, but also digging up and chewing on whatever they come by.

After we transformed the patch I planted three neat rows of onion seedlings that have now disappeared beneath the mulch. The chooks, in a desperate search for African black beetle larvae, also unearthed the remainder.

Chooks love brassicas, as do many other creatures, especially the white cabbage moth. 

When I planted my broccoli I knew that I had no chance of stopping the chooks from stripping them bare, so I had to build something to stop them, a cloche.

A cloche is a great addition to the patch and is an incredibly easy and relatively cheap way of protecting your crops from all sorts of nasties, including the weather.

To make them the first thing you need is some solid lengths of steel as supports. I bought 12 lengths of 45cm long reinforcing rods, or as they’re more commonly known, as reo bars.

Then I purchased some irrigation pipe that fits tightly over the reo bar and gathered up some of the bird netting that I had over my fruit trees.

I jammed in the reo bars half way into the soil about 1200mm apart on each side of the row and then cut lengths of pipe with my secateurs.

Arcing the pie across from one reo bar to another forms the frame over which I then draped the bird net. 

I then anchored down the net by banging in a few nails into the sleeper edge and tying the back to a tent peg.

You can also use plastic as a greenhouse or shade cloth to protect them from the sun.

Best thing is that after inspection I watch white cabbage moths flittering down and unsuccessfully getting onto the broccoli. Also the cloche is reusable, over and over again, and that makes me happy.