What size netting?

to stop both pests it will have to be enviromesh.

It could have been 7mm mesh for butterflies and enviro just for the carrot fly

we got roofing lats from wicks 3mtr cut them to size of cage we wanted, cost about 70p each . i got a brand new  roll of builders scaffolding safety mesh from e-bay  20  mtrs at 2mtrs wide cost me £18 plus a little bit of postage it was delivered within 2 days fom devon to yorkshire we got 2 packs of plasic cable ties from poundland to fasten it to the lats once you have secured them into the ground, and tent pegs also from poundland to hold the mesh into th ground.
 we made it the other day its worth its weight in gold when you see the butterflys fighting to get in, just a bit of planning  and measuring and  its a lot cheaper and stronger than the bought ones, can be dismanteled easily and used again and again or moved around the plot.

Thanks for reply, much appreciated.  
I have been looking at the ball and cane kits but I would really like to make our own cage that we can move around the plot easily and maybe with a lift off top for easy access to the crops. I think hubby is up to the job (pity I can't find any practical basic DIY info on how to construct a simple cage as that would help him).

Would you think environmesh or debris netting would be more suitable for fixing to a wood construction - I've never used either so not sure it they can be stapled to the wood.

Construct a wooden frame from CLS/Scant timber (cheap) - make sure it's treated; Use cheap angle brackets to ensure it's square. This should be the size of the bed it's to sit on. Then, drill 14mm holes about 1" deep along the long lengths every 2 ft or so, in line down both lengths of the frame, get some 14mm dowel, cut to 4"-5" pieces, glue and insert into holes. Get some 20mm MDPE pipe (Wickes) and cut lengths long enough to slide over the dowel on one side, nice smoot arch to form the frame and sit on the dowel on the other side. Repeat for each dowel-pair. Tie-wrap a cane or similar along the apex of each hoop to maintain the spacing between each.

Cut enviromesh to cover - allow enough to double-up / hem each edge then staple to the frame.




btw, I'm not claiming any originality for this, but it's a simple design that works.

Thanks so much for detailed instructions - thats just what I was hoping for as we are not that brilliant at DIY but with a little bit of help we get there!
Last year I attempted a makeshift polytunnel to protect early sewings from frost and bought some childrens hula hoops (£1 each) which we cut in half and inserted some bamboo cames into each end. They formed a frame for the length of our raised bed quite nicely but we then struggled to keep the fleece over the hoops (we have a very windy garden) plus if we wanted to check on the plants it became a real nuisance lifting up the fleece and repositioning it down again. I swore that this year I would do better 

I bought 2 poly tunnels in Lidl's (or Aldi's) for £4.99 each and they have been brilliant - protecting the plants from frost and pigeons (which we are plagued with) with just 2 drawbacks in that they are just polythene which does not slide up the hoop easily or allow water in. For the money I am not complaining at all but it would be nice to find a way of protecting the plots that works for early on in the year against the frost and then later on the butterflys and pigeons etc.

I thought if we made a frame and covered it with netting or environmesh then in the early spring maybe we could just lay some protective fleece over it for frost protection which could then be removed and the netting would then protect against the spring/summer pests. The added advantage would be we could pick it up and move it as the plots are relatively small.

We are planning on a house move in the next year or so and are hoping for a much bigger fruit and veg growing area at that time. In the meantime we are using as much of our garden as we can but only have 4 small raised beds and an area for runner beans. I'm going to print off the instructions for the frame and see if we can get one built over the next few days (hubby on hols  )
Many thanks again,
M.

Me again 
Just a quick update and a big thanks for link to the Gardeners world video Mumofstig 

After much searching and telephoning around we decided to order our netting from Wondermesh (http://www.wondermesh.co.uk/) who were so helpful when I telephoned them. I believe they may have had a mention on here in the past but could I just say how very grateful I was to Mike who went that extra mile for us by trying to get the order delivered by Royal Mail Special Delivery so we could get it this weekend. Sadly....if not surprisingly Royal Mail wanted to charge them nearly £30 to make the delivery....and also said it couldn't be totally guaranteed because of the Royal Wedding road closures in London!.

In the end we settled for courier delivery for next Tuesday instead. The Wondermesh we went for is called WM 16 Garden net and costs £30.10 (includes postage) and measures 3.65m x 10metres. There is about £6 of Vat to add to that but for 10 metres of netting it worked out cheaper than any of the other similar products I could see on the internet.
We have purchased the blue water piping from Wickes and intend to use this with the wondermesh to create our little network of raised bed tunnels.

I would have used the debris netting (much cheaper) but could only find the stuff with 3 bands of eyelets which meant the middle band would possibly allow insects access to the plants. Was also told it doesn't last much longer than a season or two whereas this wondermesh can last up to 10 years so I think it will be a good investment for the long term.
If we can get it all to work I will post up some photos 
Thanks again everyone - I don't know what I would do without your help x