[shay]

I must be weird then......I like netting. It makes the allotment look like a working allotment, although I have learn't this from experience. My first lot of Brassica's were massacred by what was I think a combo of birds and slugs, so my second batch is well protected.

Mind you my I have red, yellow and green netting so it adds a bit of colour.

[Yorkie]

Mind you my I have red, yellow and green netting so it adds a bit of colour.

I think you should aim for purple and pink next year too 

And what's wrong with blue? I've always been fond of blue 

[peapod]

Ive got blue and green, when that all deteriorates, Im hoping for pink.  Im going for a full pink wheelbarrow/trug/wellies/shed ensemble

Yes I do need a life 

[mumofstig]

Pink (the singer) made a life out of being Pink, so have you

[aelf]

netting gets on my nerves, every time I try to move it, it gets tangled or ripped. Ideally, i would like 1 giant net, 10ft high, over the entire plot so that I don't have to bend under it, get tangled up in it and so on.

When I win the lottery...... 

[Petite graine]

For to everyone for sharing their opinions  I might try an owl, if it works 5 minutes, it is that much that they won't eat from my foot of pea  (2 metres actually  )

[peapod]

When I win the lottery...... 

I say that all the time    If I won the lottery the money spent on my plot would far outweigh the output 

Greenhouse, potting shed, full netting, new gate...

Itd be cheaper in the end buying a bungalow with a big garden and save on travelling expenses 

[nicchick]

I like the rigid plastic grid netting that people use for fencing. I can balance it on canes and stop pidgeons getting on the peas but it still lets in the good guys who keep the slugs at bay. I was telling this to one of the old guys who plant in rows and he said it wouldn't work for him as it would be too expensive.
Good job we plant in blocks! Nic.

[Annie]

I hated netting when i started but now use enviromesh on brassicas and carrots over hoops so they look neat and the carrot fly and cabbage fly don`t get them.I use net in winter over my perp spinach so it does n`t get rain blasted and so is easier to clean.I take netting off sprouts and psb in autumn as there is less chance of unspotted mealy bug and most butterflies are gone.Loose and yes unsightly netting goes back on the psb late December when our pigeons get hungry.Before I used netting on the brassicas I lost more plant vigour to caterpillars than birds.

[Ice]

Netting isn't always unsightly, I think mine is ok.

[Bombers]

yippie ki-yay!



 

[peapod]

Mines exactly the same Ice (as you know, I nicked the idea from you and Aunt Sally!) Ive got 4 beds covered - hardly an eyesore..and worth it

Yorkie sent me some fab caulie and cabbage overwintering seeds today, and together with that, my netting will pay for itself by next winter

[Bombers]

" I was born, under a wonderin' star"

hehehehe...

[ravenaround]

I tried using bamboo canes. carrier bags acting like noisy flags and old video tape zig zagged all over my brassicas.

Birds never touched them after that. Which is great unless it's just luck? (time will tell)

No Netting needed...

[Mitsy]

Weird I've never had a problem with birds. I have bird feed balls to try to encourage them in to eat the insects which are my biggest problem and they even feed when I'm sitting in the garden including a young cheeky pigeon. Only 1 strawberry has been touched and that was the one I told no one to touch because it was mine so kinda jinxed that one