Protect your precious home-grown fruit from the birds and other pests this summer
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| Temporary netting made from basic materials does the job
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'Netting bought by the linear metre from a bulk roll at the garden centre is far cheaper than that cut to size and pre-packed.'
I've been growing soft fruit for a very long time, starting as a teenager with six blackcurrant bushes raised from cuttings by my grandfather. Living in rural Kent, I've always been surrounded by wild birds and have had to share a part of my crops with them, but I would never have a permanent fruit cage.
Firstly, the small insect-eating birds, such as blue tits, do a great job through most of the year keeping plants free of aphids and other pests. Secondly, small birds often squeeze into a permanent fruit cage and die because they can't find their way out.
However, I have successfully used a semi-permanent frame made from slim stakes and wood battens that lasted for several seasons, and was covered with netting that went on for the harvest period only. During the rest of the year it was moved from one crop to another as necessary.
The need for protection varies from season to season and from garden to garden for no obvious reason, so for most crops I wait until there are signs of trouble before putting the covers on. My netting goes over brassicas in late winter to protect them from pigeons. In spring, it is moved on to seed beds to protect germinating vegetables from cats scratching, birds pulling up onion sets while seeking nest-building material and sparrows dust-bathing or feeding on baby beetroot leaves. At midsummer, it is moved to protect ripening fruit from blackbirds.
Buy in bulk and recycle
Shrewd buying and recycling where possible can greatly reduce the cost of protecting your fruit. Netting bought by the linear metre from a bulk roll at the garden centre is far cheaper than that cut to size and pre-packed. I've found the best buys comes from warehouses, such as
Kays Discount Garden Supplies, especially if you get together with one or two friends, buy a big quantity and divide it up. Anti-bird netting, 4m x 50m, at £39.95, goes a long way.
I use a lot of slim stakes that have come direct from local woodcutters. Joinery works, builder's yards and skips are likely sources for battens and other recyclable timber. Wire hoops left over from the days of plastic tunnel cloches are fine for supporting net and I've made lots of larger ones from thick wire cut up with strong wire cutters or a hacksaw. Big hoops can be made from yellow gas pipe or blue water pipe sold by builder's merchants.
Fruit by fruit
To help protect your plants, you can position them and use planting methods to make it easier to cover with netting. Follow this fruit-by-fruit guide for tips on preventing birds from eating your harvests.
Blackcurrants
I've used the stake/slat frame with netting cover when the fruit begins to ripen, weighing it down firmly at ground level with odd bricks or weights. I don't net until I see signs of attack.
Blueberries
A friend who used to grow them for market told me: 'Our experience was that birds flew from the ends of the earth to get at blueberries.' So, netting is essential through the harvest period.
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| A cherry tree completely covered with netting
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Cherries
Everyone seems to love dessert cherries and birds certainly do. If you decide to grow a self-fertile variety such as 'Stella' on a modern dwarfing rootstock, be prepared to copy the commercial growers and completely cover the tree with netting before the fruit begins to ripen.
Gooseberries
Birds never go for the fruit that's picked green for cooking, freezing and jamming. But blackbirds will go for ripe dessert fruit and you may need to drape some netting over the bushes.
Loganberries, tayberries tummelberries
Netting is usually necessary, but I find that draping the net right over the plant is usually sufficient without pegging it down.
Raspberries
I've grown 'Autumn Bliss' raspberries for over 20 years and never needed to protect the fruit, but in some years the summer varieties must be covered. I stretch a clothes line between two posts 30-45cm (12-18in) above the top of the canes and hang the netting over that to prevent the birds flying down and taking a peck through the top.
Redcurrants
The colour attracts birds and netting is invariably needed. Covering is much easier if you grow the bush against a wall.
Strawberries
Protecting strawberry plants from birds as the fruit ripens is vital if you are to have any yourself. Netting must be stretched taut over the plants to prevent blackbirds swooping down to bounce on it and to peck any fruit they can reach through the mesh. I've found that tough white
Insect Control Viromesh (put on after flowering because the bees must have access for pollination) gives far better protection than netting because the birds can't see the tempting fruit through it. In fact, I did not even have to weigh down the edges last year.
Many commercial growers plant strawberries in growing bags on long narrow tables inside high polytunnels. This table-top growing makes picking easy and also helps protect the fruit from slugs and snails as well as soil-borne diseases and mud splashes. You can buy a purpose-made table top, which looks decorative on the patio, or improvise a stand with planks supported on trestles.
Alpine strawberries make pretty edging plants and don't seem to attract the birds because the small fruits tend to stay hidden among the foliage.
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