[paintedlady]

It was a few years ago I tried growing some brassicas in my garden.  I thought I was being clever thinking about netting in the first place, and had got the lightweight green mesh type (keeps out birds and butterflies it said)  Then one lovely sunny day I was sitting on the patio enjoying a cup of coffee, looking down the garden and enjoying the peace and quiet when I spotted a pair of white butterflies flittering over the cage.  Before my eyes, they were suddenly inside the cage!  :shock:  When I went to check, everything was covered with caterpillars.

Since then I have gone for the much finer weave.  As I am not a big brassica lover (just a few of each), it has been worth paying that little bit more rather than watch my entire harvest disappear before my eyes.

PS  The upturned pop bottle over cane sounds like a brilliant idea!

[Trillium]

And judging by a common problem I often read about last season, make sure the bottom edges are well held down or the pigeons will simply sneak under and chow down or the wind will blow up edges for the pigeons.  Check out the Geoff Hamilton cloche video under Design & Const.

[GrannieAnnie]

Your Granny's old net curtains do a great job
too ... and a lot more moneysaving  

Has anyone else noticed that weird smell peculiar to net curtains?

      No, but i've noticed a smell peculiar to old grannys.

Hey, I hope you don't mean me!!!!!!  

[Trillium]

Hey, I hope you don't mean me!!!!!!

No one would dare accusse our very own grannieannie of that!      Now get on your motorcycle and run him down  

[Rampant_Weasel]

my local garden center sells 5mm mesh on a roll so i am planning to buy some wood batons and screw them together to make a box frame and then fix the mesh to it.then i can simply lift on lift off the box to weed.
gonna make boxes for cabbage, sprouts and another one out of real fine mesh for carrots.
can anyone tell me how high the sprout plants grow please? dont want to make the box too small.

[WG.]

Sprouts can grow to 3 ft or more

[bedrockdave]

I don't use fleece or netting, I put all my rhubarb leaves in an old bin ,let them rot for a couple of weeks or so then use the water (AT NIGHT WHEN GOING HOME)  inbetween the rows ,  the smell is awful but I get no butterflies about .

[cawdor2001]

thanks DD . but i was thinking put the bottle over the top as you say and then put another cane through it horizontally to make a frame and give it more stability but probably not needed

Cawdor

[DD.]

thanks DD . but i was thinking put the bottle over the top as you say and then put another cane through it horizontally to make a frame and give it more stability but probably not needed

Cawdor

Yes, I can see what he's getting at. I've used canes with twine strung between them, this also stops the nets slipping down.

However, Ive found the most rigid method is lengths of pre-treated unplaned timber from the local diy place.

such as this...

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/skins/popups/scene7.jsp?skuId=9285557

76p for about 6'. The net is just placed on top & then pegged down. The timber is too wide for it to slip down, it can be cut into lengths to suit the crop and being preservative treated should last years. Just simply banged into the ground & no need for cross members.