Fruit Cage

[FarmI]

I've decided that I need to build a fruit cage to stop the Blue Tongued
Lizards eating my strawberries and the birds getting my raspberries.

I did a fairly major google and it seems that there are at least a squillion
Fruit Cages out there, BUT, they all of them seem to either be supplied by
Harrods or similar up market (and thus rather posh) British garden suppliers
or they are rough, spindly and quite tiny structures on British allotment
sites.

Neither of these options will not do in my situation as both would look very
out of place.

I plan to use treated pine poles at the corners and cover it with bird
netting and the dimensions would be roughly about 20 ft square (but with one
corner of it ending up 'pointy' and one side being about 25 ft long).

Has anyone seen any pics of a decent sized Fruit Cage in their wanders round
the Net and that would look at home on a farm where there will be cattle in
a paddock on one side, chooks in a big orchard run on another, a 20ft wide
wind break on one side and a big veg garden on the other?

Looking for inspiration.

Fran

[brooklyn1]

"FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote in message
...
> I've decided that I need to build a fruit cage to stop the Blue Tongued
> Lizards eating my strawberries and the birds getting my raspberries.
>
> I did a fairly major google and it seems that there are at least a
> squillion Fruit Cages out there, BUT, they all of them seem to either be
> supplied by Harrods or similar up market (and thus rather posh) British
> garden suppliers or they are rough, spindly and quite tiny structures on
> British allotment sites.
>
> Neither of these options will not do in my situation as both would look
> very out of place.
>
> I plan to use treated pine poles at the corners and cover it with bird
> netting and the dimensions would be roughly about 20 ft square (but with
> one corner of it ending up 'pointy' and one side being about 25 ft long).
>
> Has anyone seen any pics of a decent sized Fruit Cage in their wanders
> round the Net and that would look at home on a farm where there will be
> cattle in a paddock on one side, chooks in a big orchard run on another, a
> 20ft wide wind break on one side and a big veg garden on the other?
>
> Looking for inspiration.
>
>
I built a similar contraption to keep the birds from my blueberries and
strawberries. Only instead of wodden poles I drove in 6' stell fence
posts, ran closeline all around at the tops and draped a fine mesh netting.
I never accounted for snow... figuring to leave it up all year was a
mistake, the snow wouldn't pass throught the netting and instead built up
until the weight collapsed the entire thing, fortunately my plants were not
damaged. And some of the smaller birds found ways to get inside anyway, but
then couldn't find their way out. I would think that lizards come in all
sizes, it would be impossible to keep the young ones out. Now I place
tomato cages over my blueberry bushes and drape each with netting, makes it
easeir to harvest the berries too. And at the end of the season I will
leave the cages but remove the netting... blueberry bushes grow slowly so
it'll be years before I need to figure a different method. I found growing
strawberries not worth the trouble, too much weeding and the berry season is
short, I can buy strawberries most of the summer for cheap, so those are now
gone. With blueberies there is no weeding, they're easy to harvest, and
they supply berries all summer. Strawberries stop producing after the third
year, blueberries produce more the older they get and they can easily
outlive a few generations.

[Bill who putters]

In article
>,
"FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote:

> I've decided that I need to build a fruit cage to stop the Blue Tongued
> Lizards eating my strawberries and the birds getting my raspberries.
>
> I did a fairly major google and it seems that there are at least a squillion
> Fruit Cages out there, BUT, they all of them seem to either be supplied by
> Harrods or similar up market (and thus rather posh) British garden suppliers
> or they are rough, spindly and quite tiny structures on British allotment
> sites.
>
> Neither of these options will not do in my situation as both would look very
> out of place.
>
> I plan to use treated pine poles at the corners and cover it with bird
> netting and the dimensions would be roughly about 20 ft square (but with one
> corner of it ending up 'pointy' and one side being about 25 ft long).
>
> Has anyone seen any pics of a decent sized Fruit Cage in their wanders round
> the Net and that would look at home on a farm where there will be cattle in
> a paddock on one side, chooks in a big orchard run on another, a 20ft wide
> wind break on one side and a big veg garden on the other?
>
> Looking for inspiration.
>
> Fran

Here is an image looks small and expensive.


<http://www.guardianecostore.co.uk/guardian/product.aspx?productid=18577>

More images

<http://www.allotment.org.uk/greenhouse/Plant_Fruit_Protection_Cage/s-del
uxe_fruit_cage.html>

<http://images.google.com/images?q=Fruit%20cage&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8>

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

No foreign intervention unless tyranny at home.

[Billy[_7_]]

In article >,
Bill who putters > wrote:

> In article
> >,
> "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote:
>
> > I've decided that I need to build a fruit cage to stop the Blue Tongued
> > Lizards eating my strawberries and the birds getting my raspberries.
> >
> > I did a fairly major google and it seems that there are at least a
> > squillion
> > Fruit Cages out there, BUT, they all of them seem to either be supplied
> > by
> > Harrods or similar up market (and thus rather posh) British garden
> > suppliers
> > or they are rough, spindly and quite tiny structures on British allotment
> > sites.
> >
> > Neither of these options will not do in my situation as both would look
> > very
> > out of place.
> >
> > I plan to use treated pine poles at the corners and cover it with bird
> > netting and the dimensions would be roughly about 20 ft square (but with
> > one
> > corner of it ending up 'pointy' and one side being about 25 ft long).
> >
> > Has anyone seen any pics of a decent sized Fruit Cage in their wanders
> > round
> > the Net and that would look at home on a farm where there will be cattle in
> > a paddock on one side, chooks in a big orchard run on another, a 20ft wide
> > wind break on one side and a big veg garden on the other?
> >
> > Looking for inspiration.
> >
> > Fran
>
> Here is an image looks small and expensive.
>
>
> <http://www.guardianecostore.co.uk/guardian/product.aspx?productid=18577>
>
> More images
>
> <http://www.allotment.org.uk/greenhouse/Plant_Fruit_Protection_Cage/s-del
> uxe_fruit_cage.html>
>
> <http://images.google.com/images?q=Fruit%20cage&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8>
>
> Bill

These look like they could be built with PVC (or what ever is UV proof).
Drilling holes and using cotter keys to hold it together would make them
easy to disassemble (although setting the posts in cement would be a
good idea).
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En2TzBE0lp4

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050688.html

[David Hare-Scott[_2_]]

"FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote in message
...
> I've decided that I need to build a fruit cage to stop the Blue Tongued
> Lizards eating my strawberries and the birds getting my raspberries.
>
> I did a fairly major google and it seems that there are at least a
> squillion Fruit Cages out there, BUT, they all of them seem to either be
> supplied by Harrods or similar up market (and thus rather posh) British
> garden suppliers or they are rough, spindly and quite tiny structures on
> British allotment sites.
>
> Neither of these options will not do in my situation as both would look
> very out of place.
>
> I plan to use treated pine poles at the corners and cover it with bird
> netting and the dimensions would be roughly about 20 ft square (but with
> one corner of it ending up 'pointy' and one side being about 25 ft long).
>
> Has anyone seen any pics of a decent sized Fruit Cage in their wanders
> round the Net and that would look at home on a farm where there will be
> cattle in a paddock on one side, chooks in a big orchard run on another, a
> 20ft wide wind break on one side and a big veg garden on the other?
>
> Looking for inspiration.
>
> Fran
>

I cover my strawberries with weldmesh. I have sections of about 3m long
1200mm wide of 12mm mesh that are rolled longways into a section of a
cylinder. They are stiff enough to stand up on the edges without frames and
are easy to lift off and replace. Being galvanised and much stronger than
bird or chook netting it lasts indefinitely: unless a horse walks on it.

David