We have an abundance of birds living here year round, plus the many spring arrivals and migratory birds passing through. There’s also a heaping dose of rabbits, squirrels, voles, moles, crickets, snails, yada, yada, yada. Not to mention a neighbor’s large dogs that run at large and like to tromp my gardens and use them for impolite purposes. Sprouts and young veggies have a high risk of being crushed, having their heads lopped off, or nibbled to pieces.
This year I put large insect screen blankets over my newly seeded and transplanted veggies and strawberries. The results so far have been that the dogs have not trod in the garden and the rabbits, birds, and other warm blooded critters have not been able to feast on the tender green babies. Not one single sugar snap pea was beheaded. They were not totally and completely protected from insects because some unseen ones are always in the garden, but there must have been fewer than I expected because the only damage has been a few nibbled leaves on a couple of adjoining Napa cabbages.
One unanticipated benefit has been that hard rains don’t beat the leaves to the ground. The small holes of the fabric keep that from occurring. It does claim to protect from hail, but I hadn’t expected the benefit for hard rainfall.
Also, I see plenty of weed and tree seeds sitting on TOP of the fabric. I spend far too much time weeding around here. The fewer that make it into the garden the better. No doubt the tiniest of them are still making it through, but this should be a drastic reduction in the number that sprout in there.
What kind of screen are you using? Does it lay on the plants or supported?
It’s a woven mesh of made of UV stabilized polyethylene. It’s an Agralan product called Enviromesh. It is strong and somewhat stretchy. I have some in 20’x12’ size and some in 15’x7’.
Although the instructions say to simply lay it directly on the bed, I don’t do that in the main garden for a few reasons. The garden is mostly raised hills with trenches for walking. I did not want any weight on tender young leaves and having the plants elevated would cause them to be the support. Having the mesh in contact with the plants would mean that moisture stayed in contact with the leaves longer and I didn’t want to increase the opportunity for fungal rot. Also, I was concerned that insects would land on the screen and manage to deposit eggs onto vegetation. So, I put in some pvc posts at the row ends and a couple in the middle to raise the mesh, then stretched it and spaced some bricks around the outer edges to keep it taut enough and close off the outside.
In a different area, I have a short version of sugar snap peas densely planted in two rows with strawberries in between the rows. The peas were planted prior to the berries. I used a smaller size on them. So, less overall fabric weight. I wasn’t as concerned about fungal issues with the peas, and with their density they have enough structure to hold up the mesh on their own. The pea plants hold the mesh well above the new berry plants. When I mulch the peas under, I’ll be rethinking how to protect the berries. I plant peas as much for nitrogen fixation as for actual peas.