The Carrots and Beetroot in one of my new deep raised beds are growing very luxuriantly and their tops were beginning to push up against the Enviromesh supported on those plastic hoops:
The hoops have now been replaced by aluminium rods and "Build-a-Ball" balls, making a much taller structure with room for the plants to breathe more easily.
As you can see, the excess Enviromesh is held down by some bricks. The Enviromesh is a huge piece, allowing me to build a very tall structure if required - e.g. to protect brassicas.
Meanwhile, I have raised the height of the Brassica cage, using some longer aluminium rods slotted into the ones that were already there. You can buy rods that are "swaged" (in other words thinner at one end) so that they can be joined to the ordinary rods.
Unfortunately the net I am using here is square, so it only just reaches the ground at the sides although there is lots of spare material at the ends, which has to be bunched up. You will probably say "Why don't you reduce the height a bit to make it easier to position the net?", but believe me, the Brussels Sprouts in the middle of this bed will soon get very tall and it won't be long before the cage looks only just big enough!
In this next photo you can see the Salads bed in the foreground, with the tall Brassica cage behind it.
The netting over the salads has a large mesh-size and is really just to keep animals from trampling over the crops, whereas the net over the brassicas is intended to keep out the white butterflies, and has a much smaller mesh-size.
Trespasser caught on camera!
My local bird population seems to be very keen on these structures, seeing them as convenient perches from which to survey the surrounding area:
Actually, the birds (particularly the Robins) enjoy perching on ALL the garden structures from time to time. Here's one on the bean-poles.
Robins are amongst the easiest birds to photograph, because they are not frightened of humans and don't fly away at the slightest hint of danger like most others do. This rather grumpy-looking Robin is perching on the container in which my Sweet Potatoes are growing.
This next one is a very poor photo, very hastily taken, but it shows a Nuthatch investigating one of the Build-a-Ball balls - presumably it was harbouring some little creatures that could make a meal for a small bird.
Everything's growing really well. Those build a ball kits are quite an expensive layout but they do the job well and they should last. I don't suppose you mind paying more for things when you're growing things in your garden rather than on an allotment site. How lovely that you get nuthatches in the garden, it's a bird I've never seen.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence - I am actually on my way to William Dam to purchase some more netting for my onion beds (sitting in a coffee shop at the moment, waiting for the store to open). Last year I didn't net any of these (and them found onion maggot damage) so I didn't anticipate that they would outgrow my standard netting. I really like the "build a ball" contraption - I'm thinking of perhaps doing something similar with PVC as the rebar/hoop combination I'm using isn't that great for the taller coverings.
ReplyDeleteI will probably have to raise my Brussels sprout net at some point. But I'll have to sew more on to do that. It will be a pain. So I'm waiting until I can't wait anymore. Unfortunately I don't have supports that can be taller like yours. The plant itself will have to push up the net if it wants more room.
ReplyDeleteAaaagh! Garden envy!!
ReplyDeleteIn the warm sun yesterday I saw brown carrot flies swarming around my enviromesh covered carrots - so I don't remove or lift my mesh from the moment the carrot seeds are sown until the last of the crop is pulled (picking, weeding etc is all done with arms under the edges - tricky but worth it for an undamaged crop).
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to have a nuthatch visit.
ReplyDeleteI wish that I had shares in a garden netting company