I have had to rig "anti-boarding nets" around my big Woodblocx raised bed, because despite it now being full of plants, the darned badgers/foxes/whatever are still furtling around in it every night. I'm naturally worried that they will damage the plants. Now that I have installed the 6-foot poles for the cucumbers it is not practical to cover the whole bed with a net, so I have put a barrier about 2 feet high all round it.
The most effective bit will probably be this - a length of plastic clematis netting (until recently used for protecting my peas). Since it is fairly rigid it was easy to fix it in place with some of the aluminium poles from my Build-a-Ball kit:-
Since I don't have enough of the clematis netting to go all the way round, half of the bed is protected by netting draped over more aluminium poles and held in place with clothes-pegs:
Well, it doesn't look very pretty, but it might just keep the veggies safe! How high can badgers jump??
Now I have this nightmare about getting up in the morning to find an angry badger trapped within my "cage", trampling all over my plants in its efforts to escape!
You watch those pesky badgers don't pole vault over your netting now!
ReplyDeleteI hope that works for you. I netted my strawberries and the local groundhog got trapped in it for a short while. I didn't see it but my neighbor told me her dog was really getting excited over it as it was about a foot from his nose on the other side of the fence.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about jumping but badgers are expert climbers - now foxes - they jump high and can easily get over a six foot fence!
ReplyDeleteI hope it works for you. I think you need to put the defences around your garden, it's probably easier than each individual bed.
ReplyDeleteJo, in view of what Sue says, I'd have to erect a fence about 10 feet tall all round my garden then! And the badgers tunnel underneath fences anyway, so I'd have to have an underground concrete wall as well!
DeleteWhat do the badgers want in your garden? They don't eat the plants do they? Maybe your badgers are the same as our groundhogs. Hmm. Now rabbits I could see doing that for. So far no sign of them here.
ReplyDeleteMarcia, the badgers root around in the soil (often damp near the plants after watering) to look for worms to eat.
ReplyDeleteI never knew badgers attacked gardens. I guess it is like moles where they tear things up looking for grubs and worms. Also, you just taught me the word "furtling" -- though after looking up the definition I just keep picturing a fox and a badger sticking their paws through holes in Victorian postcards and giggling at the hairy humans.
ReplyDeleteLooks like my setup too, down to the clothes pegs (pins we call'em) though I suspect the culprits here are skunks or squirrels, I hope to know in the coming week. What a bother!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting to hear about the anti-boarding nets.....I do hope yours work! I would love to have a fox and /or badger, but like you I also like my plants.xxxx
ReplyDeleteWe only get badger trouble when it has been dry then they come in and tip up container plants, dig latrines and the lawn and generally make a right old mess.
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