[Dai]

I know it depends on the variety (I think mine are darkmar)

Ive bought some veggiemesh and am hoping to build a protective frame for my brassicas using bamboo and some of those flexible bamboo connectors but dont know how high to build it.

[BabbyAnn]

you also need to take into account soil fertility and the weather during the growing season, but generally about 3 feet tall (I probably make a cage about 4 feet tall - sometimes just right, sometimes too big, sometimes the sprouts touch the net  )

[Wiltshire Worms]

about 4" taller than you make the net...however high that is

[mew001]

Just the question I was going to ask! Thank you 

*off to buy some 3m debris netting ...*

[pdblake]

You don't really need a frame with veggiemesh. I just lay it over the plants, the stuff is light enough that they lift it up as they grow.

[GrannieAnnie]

Mine grew very tall the other year, so this year I am prepared!  However, as to just laying the mesh over the brassicas, cabbage whites will and do, settle and lay their eggs on the leaves if they can reach them, so I wouldn't do that.

I made my frame out of bamboo canes and cable tied them together.  they are in the ground 16 inches, but our winds the other day did lift them a bit, so hubby gave me some lengths of wood he'd cut into stakes to help hold the canes tight.

It's also tall enough for me to go inside to hoe.  The debris netting is 3m tall Mew!  I folded the top together and stitched it closed with polypropylene twine.

I've got a 2ft 6in opening at the front which is a cane tied to the netting and then its hooked round the side so the cabbage whites can't get in that way!

[pdblake]

Mine grew very tall the other year, so this year I am prepared!  However, as to just laying the mesh over the brassicas, cabbage whites will and do, settle and lay their eggs on the leaves if they can reach them, so I wouldn't do that.

Veggiemesh/enviromesh is fine enough to keep them out. Debris netting is a different matter.

[Dai]

well i decided to knock this up a few weeks ago. not as swanky as grannies but it will have to do.
as you can see tho, its not covering the whole brassica bed so some will have to be left out as sacrificial plants.
I did drive the poles in quite far tho which gives me room to make it taller as if they grow.

http://min.us/lbymelBGz3mxiw

http://min.us/lCaxMUomAfhC6

[GrannieAnnie]

Thanks Dai, but I'd hardly call it swanky.  Just hope I can keep it up with the winds we get in Lincolnshire at times, but knowing my efforts, somethings bound to go wrong! 

Yours is very shiny.  Is that the veggiemesh you mentioned?

[Dai]

Looks swanky enough for me grannie, maby some guide ropes would help against the wind?

Yes it is, I bought a 12 foot wide 10 meter roll for £40. i guess i used half of it on that bed? and although i would like to make something more substantial of it i would also like to make some cloches with whats left too so i can move them around where i want them.

as for the veggiemesh itself, it seems like good stuff. its quite stiff, looks like plastic and seems semi opaque. and the blurb says it should last ten years. (I hope it does the job)

[GrannieAnnie]

Mmmm not sure about the ropes, I'd probably top myself whilst weeding! lol  I was hoping the polytunnel and workshop would shelter it a bit, but our previling wind coms fomr the wrong direction!  Still, we'll see.

We can only try these things can't we?

You will have to let us know how the veggiemesh does by the end of the season!

[pdblake]

The veggiemesh loosens up after a while, mine is like draping a cloth over them at the moment. Not a sign of caterpillars or birds last year. It's strange to see the stuff getting pushed up.