So... Battle plans have been put into place and the potager is now protected - as best we can
The strawberry beds are worst hit. Our aim is to limit damage like this....
And get more fruit like this..
We are trying several methods to protect the fruit. The area in the background of the photo (below) is netted using cane hoops and strawberry netting (Colin's ingenious method of attaching the canes with a length of hose pipe came into play here) The plants in the foreground have an apex of netting secured on a central row of canes...
On the other side of the potager a further strawberry bed has hoops over it with supermarket shopping bags attached to create noise and movement in the breeze.
Will any be effective? We shall have to wait and see!
But when we look at the number of strawberry plants we've got we can't help but wondering "Will we miss a few?"
4 comments:
It's the principle of the thing - the bird food is theirs, the strawberries are yours.
Strawberries go mushy if you freeze them, but that makes them perfect to mix with other fruits for desserts. There's always jam, too........yum !!
Just picked a kilo of strawbs. I gave up netting them as I lose very few and the hassle of lifting the netting to pick wasn't worth it (plus I once trapped a dragonfly in the netting).
Good luck !
We saw an orchard with lots of supetmarket bags and CD's tied on to the cherry trees. We planned to try this but ran out of time.
A little bird tells me that you've got the jam sugar ready...
Mine are in pots in the lean-to and the only pilferer is the dog. I'm going to have to find a better solution next year though as I'd really like more plants.
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