Crop protection

So I've made up a couple of screen up to keep the birds and cats off my vegetable beds while my plants grow. These screens are quite large but the trouble I can't work out is what to cover them.

I want to keep the birds off the beds as I want to use slug pellets to protect my seedlings and the birds from any harm. My beds are south facing so perhaps a bit of shade isn't a bad thing.



I don't have much money so ideally something cheap and plentiful would be great.

 

Horicultural fleece would work fine Jane. Cheapest source I've found is the local Pound shop where you can buy a pack for guess what !

I use it to protect my peas from birds and keep the wind off. I use clothes pegs to peg it to the support wires.

 

Nice one Jane, see you're spending your birthday in good persuits

Dave beat me to it, I was going to suggest pound shop netting.

 

2 pound a roll

 

You could use net curtains Jane

 

Scaffolders Debris Netting - often thrown away after a building job, have an Ask on building sites around you and you will probably be able to blag it for free.

 

Thank you for all your suggestions.

I always thought that horticultural fleece was for only protecting crops / tender plants in the winter. I imagined that if I used it on my crops in the summer they would cook.

Actually I had made these last week and I had only just got round to making a thread about it.

I had forgotten about this stuff. But I do wonder if it will tear easily. I suppose I could always buy some and find out.....

I was thinking this when I made the thread. But would they rot quickly or let enough rain through?

I think I have a small amount of this stuff already but I was concerned that it wouldn't let enough rain through to water the crops.

 

No it doesn`t Jane, I use this for my fruit and have had it for several years, I use the larger guage for my beans, and replace it every 2/3 years, and only because when I pull my old beans down I have wrenched a strong stem out and its got too ripped, and then its usually from the same box as the rolls are huge.

 

It only keeps heat in, doesn't attract it / trap it (like polythene would do). Dunno about the amount of light it lets through, compared to other solutions. My biggest concern would be that it would rip easily - particularly the cheap stuff, which is pretty thin and somewhat "fragile".

Builders debris netting is knitted, and designed to "catch" whatever heavy / sharp things that builders drop, so strong enough in that sense. I've been using it for years over Brassicas and not noticed that rain runs off etc. There is some light loss (and way more than a bird net with, say, 2" - 4" mesh, but I don't think its enough, in summer, for the plants to notice.

(I also use scaffolders debris netting, vertically mounted, as a windbreak, which is another good use for it - e.g. along a newly planted hedge.)

 

I bought a few of those when they were reduced to 30p per roll last year

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/wilkos-half-price-sale.42517/page-6#post-612821

 

That`s why I only got a couple then Although I will say "Wilkos" have been very stingy with their reductions this year.

 

I was just about to go and buy some of this netting the weekend just gone and then forgot to. Low and behold I found more than enough debris netting in my shed to cover my screens.



Then yesterday I noticed my neighbour having a clear out and then ask if she wanted these. Turns out they fit my beds almost perfectly!