Teach me about netting?!

[tombear]

Only having ever planted out quite large herb seedlings so being functionally a pretty complete novice how do you go about stopping all the seedlings herself has on the window sills being eaten by birds, slugs, tribbles etc as soon as we plant them out?

For the Anglo Saxon stuff we are going organic.

So short of taking a child out of school and arming him with a sling and a taste for French food I'm thinking we need some netting of some sort. What's the most cost effective sort and what needs protecting and what doesn't ?

ATB

Tom

 

[wingstoo]

I built some hooped covers using electricians conduit piping and then covered them with chicken wire, but any netting will be OK as long as it is small enough to stop birds getting in.

I have a huge roll of Scaffold netting I bought that I might be using this year, 3mtrs wide and 25mtrs long, tighter weave but still netting, and also provides shade to stop scorching young seedlings.

 

[Macaroon]

+1 for the scaffold netting; cheap, lightweight, very strong and durable and easy to use..........

 

[wingstoo]

I'll see if I can upload some pictures.

 

[British Red]

Depends what you need protection from Tom

I stole Wingstoo's conduit idea and adapted it to suit my needs and my standardised beds

I built a load of standardised goalposts



Bent conduit over them



I use three types of net - scaffolding net - which keeps all insects off - use this to stop (for example) white butterflies decimating your brassicas



Wide mesh that keeps (for example) pigeons off peas but lets small birds and insects through



15mm bird netting - this leaves room for pollinating insects to fly in but keeps small birds out - good for soft fruit



H

 

[wingstoo]

 

[tombear]

Excellent, that gives me a few ideas.

Cheers folks!

ATB

tom

 

[bigbear]

Thats well handy, that is !
been thinking about the very same subject today, and here is the wisdom I need!
Good work chaps.

 

[tombear]

Finally going off to buy netting tomorrow and since we are as every doing it on a shoestring, getting some bamboo to hold it up. Does any one have any neat designs for frames we can nick?

Also how big do plants need to be before you an take the nets away? Which translates to how high do the nets need to be?

Aquired a half kg bag of spelt grain which the miller said is just untreated seed so going to try growing a patch of that to see if it grows. Mainly for some period sized straw for some craft work.

ATB

Tom


Ps just sent out the youngest two with a tape and a note book. The bed for the bere is 7 foot by 10 foot 6 inch and the larger bed for the Anglo Saxon seeds and seedlings is 17 for on one side tapering down to 11 foot on the other after 17 feet, assuming that they measured right! According to their measurements the whole top back garden we can use for veg is 57 feet wide at the top and tapering down a bit after 74 feet. Just need to dig and weed the beds.

 

[British Red]

3" for strawberries, 3' for sprouts!

Depends on what you are growing Tom - tell us what the crops are and we can give a better answer (so peas, you can take the net off at 6", but cabbages need it on till Winter stops the butterflies flying)

 

[tombear]

Yeah I thought there wouldn't be a nice general size!

heres what's on the window sills growing, not all of which will be going into the back plot, the normal herbs will be going out front to thicken up the herb garden once they are big enough. They won't be netted.

Asda big prop (germ 4/4)
2 x 4 sage (fothergills)
3x4 welsh onion
5/4 14 Welsh onion potted on lid
5/4 8 sage potted on tray
5/4 4 coriander tucked in


Sains plug prop pl end Mar
1x5 Rebekah dill dukat
1x5 Rebekah basic cinnamon
1x5 Rebekah Florence fennel rom
2x5 oregano Thompson & Morgan


Sains plug propagator pl 31/3/14
5 bush pea
5 collard Yates (moreveg)
5 collard Georgia southern moreve
5 good king Henry (moreveg)
5 wild garlic (moreveg)
5 wild marjoram (wildflowershop)
10 wild carrots (wildflowershop)


Asda propagator pl 31/3/14
4 Wild parsnips (wildflowershop)
4 wild thyme (wildflowershop)
4 wild basil (wildflowershop)
4 summer savory (moreveg)
4 wizard field bean


Open big tray 1 (pl 5/4/14)
8 tender & true parsnip
8 kale thousand head Rebekah
4 parsley moss ruled old Morris
4 sage moreveg
4 chervil curled Rebekah


Open big tray 2 (pl 5/4/14)
4 Florence fennel romamesco Reb
4 thyme purple creeping Rebekah
4 basil sweet Genoese Rebekah
8 chicory Brussels witloof Rebek
8 summer savory Rebekah


Open big tray 3 (pl 5/4/14)
8 wild rocket (WhiteEnv)
4 coriander (WhiteEnv)
4 coriander (Johnsons)
4 dill dukat Rebekah
4 parsley flat (WhiteEnv)


Open tray 4 (pl 5/4/14)
8 rocket skyrocket Thom&Morg
8 marjoram white Rebekah
8 rocket Apollo Thom&Morg

To go in as seeds

F- Oregano Thompson & Morgan
F- Rocket skyrocket Thompson & Morgan
F- Rocket Apollo Thompson & Morgan
F- Parsley moss curled 2 morrisons
F (tub) Spring onion performer Thompson & Morgan
F- Coriander 'cilantro' johnsons
Chives johnsons
Pepper chilli jalapeño
Squash b/nut Waltham
F- Thyme English winter
F- Parsley flat
F- Coriander
F- Mint
F windowsill Basil sweet genovese
Chives
B- Rocket wild


Home saved chives seeds
F windowsill Basil sweet genovese johnsons
Lavatera novella flowers Suttons
Saladisi salad leaves Thompson & Morgan
Spring onion performer Thompson & Morgan


Rebekah's:
Thos windowsill Basil Siam queen
Thos windowsill Basil cinnamon
F- Florence fennel romanesco
Thos windowsill Basil Greek
Thos windowsil lBasil neapolitana
Thos windowsill Basil sweet genovese
F- Dill dukat
F/b Chervil curled
F - Marjoram white
Pepper hot Hungarian wax
F- Thyme purple creeping
B- Summer savory
B- Kale thousand head


Anglo seeds (wild flower shop)
F&B Wild thyme
F&B Wild garlic (Ramsons)
F&B Wild marjoram
B Wild carrot
B Wild parsnip
F&B Wild basil


B- Parsnip heritage tender & true
B- Welsh onion
B- Bush peas
B- Field beans 'wizard'


MoreVeg:
Chicory Brussels witloof
Collard Yates
Collard Georgia southern
Good king Henry
Summer savory
Wild garlic (ransoms)
Sage
Spring onion guardsman, reddy, savel & white Lisbon
Bere barley
Spelt grain

ATB

Tom

 

[British Red]

There can be - I build all my net frames about 3' high - its too high for strawberries, but it keeps all the frames one size. I would net over the peas you have till 6" tall. The rest don't look too vulnerable, but you have a lot of stuff I don't grow . Brassicas, soft fruit and other stuff is vulnerable but not on your list.

 

[tombear]

Excellent! That's reassuring

i was toying with making several square based domes I can stack when not being used.

so, with the sorts of plants we are doing is it birds or insects that will be th great devourers.

atb

Tom

 

[British Red]

Pigeons eat aything at "shoot" stage but especially peas. Most plants have some insect that can affect them but brassicas (cabbage family) can be destroyed by butterfly caterpillars. Rust and other diseases can kill your alliums (onion family) and carrot fly can do your carrots. In short, all plants have their pests but don't sweat it. Plant em and if they look sick, put pictures on here and we will help!

 

[Laurentius]

Pigeons eat aything at "shoot" stage but especially peas. Most plants have some insect that can affect them but brassicas (cabbage family) can be destroyed by butterfly caterpillars. Rust and other diseases can kill your alliums (onion family) and carrot fly can do your carrots. In short, all plants have their pests but don't sweat it. Plant em and if they look sick, put pictures on here and we will help!

Pigeons will attack brassicas at any stage as I discovered to my chagrin last year arriving on my allotment just in time to shoo away a flock who had totally stripped my cauliflowers and kale. This year I will be growing them (brassicas not pigeons) in a cage, built out of a bit of this and a bit of that including electrical conduit, bamboo, a bit of netting from here a bit of chicken wire from there as you do.

Good idea for carrots is to grow them alongside onions, the onions put off the carrot fly and the carrots put off the onion fly, it worked for me anyway.

 

[tombear]

Cheers. Since we couldn't find a source of medeivil onions we got shallots as a close approximation so we will intersperse them with the carrots.

Looking at the net we can get locally we will probably be getting beeeeg sheets of it and covering the whole beds in one go and just removing it ( handy having 4 people to help) when work needs doing on them until the plant are well established.

We'll probably be carving tent peg th rest of today now! Simple bamboo tripods and cross beams will hold it up at the right hieght.

atb and thanks again!

Tom

 

[British Red]

Which onion did you want Tom? Wasn't it the one I call three cornered leek?

 

[tombear]

Unfortunately not, I can't remember why but from something I read modern shallots are pretty much like the sort of early medievil onions I was after. There's some great Spanish onions the can trace back to the 1400s which are still grown but they wouldn't fit in with the Anglo Saxon theme.

Suns come out after raining all day but Ive been out all day and am knackered. I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow so I will get plenty done then. Tonight ill practice my lashings and make up some bamboo goal post affairs for keeping the nets up in the air. After I've demolished a pack of chocolate digestives and a pint of tea!

atb

Tom