Southern Agrarianism and the culture of the Old South

Netting to Protect the Garden

Netting protecting the strawberries

Guarding your garden against various pests is a never-ending task if you expect to benefit from your labor. Before adding this netting over the strawberry plants, the squirrels were getting them before we were. They still get one on occasion when they can reach through the netting, but most of the strawberries are out of their reach. While a pellet rifle with a good scope does a fine job of thinning the population of “fuzzy tail tree rats”, it just doesn’t compare to netting when it comes to results. It may be more satisfying to see the little thieves fall from a tree, but it doesn’t even put a dent in the population. Netting is far more effective.

The down side to using netting is that if I’m in a hurry in the morning, it’s easy to just take a quick look for ripe strawberries to pick rather than removing the netting and looking carefully under the leaves. I’ve lost some by letting them get over-ripe.

This year, we just had 4 strawberry plants. We will definitely be increasing the number next year.

2 Comments

  1. cecilia

    where did you find this net for your strawberries? this is the first year i really have things growing and the birds and snails are getting to everything before we do so i’m trying to figure out how to do this!

    • Stephen Clay McGehee

      It came from either Lowes or Home Depot. It is in the same area where they have chicken wire and fencing.

      I just removed it yesterday – the strawberries have stopped producing, so there is nothing left to protect.

      We also have blackberries, but there is no way that I could protect them. Last year, there wasn’t much “critter damage” that I recall. I suspect that black is not as attractive as the red in the strawberries is.

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