One of the most annoying things for gardeners is when after spending months caring for your fruit and vegetables the birds and rabbits come and help themselves. John has a theory that the pigeons and rabbits work in tandem – the birds fly overhead to view their dinner then tell the rabbits where the best pickings are! Earlier in the year John asked me what I would like for my birthday and I suggested a fruit cage. I thought we could order one of those off the shelf ones from our wholesaler but John thought he would like to do it himself.

We ordered the timber from a local supplier and spent several nights after work constructing a frame work over our fruit bushes. We decided to make it quite large so we could grow vegetables as well. We used tanalised timber 2” x 2”. To keep the rabbits out we used wire netting around the bottom that was dug 6” into the soil. We used a small mesh over the whole frame so that even the butterflies cannot get in and lay their eggs on our cabbages.

This year our red currants were so overloaded with fruit we had to tie the branches together to stop them collapsing with the weight of fruit.

We have found it to be so successful we have built a small lean too frame over our strawberry patch. I did not realise how much fruit you could get in a small area when the birds are not helping themselves.

One of the problems of using the fine mesh is that in the winter we may have a problem with snow settling on the top and in the spring the insects will not be able to get in to pollinate the fruit. We may have to take some of the staples out when we have finished our crops.

I can really recommend a fruit cage in your garden if you have room -this means that whatever fruit and vegetables you wish to grow you can be confident that you will be rewarded with the fruit of your labour.

Enjoy your summer in the garden
Shirley Waters