More and more people are taking up gardening these days, whether they have a garden or not. Allotments are a great way to grow crops and plants if your property does not have a garden. Setting up your own patch is simple and easy and can bring a lot of enjoyment and give you your own source of fresh fruit and vegetables. Many people prefer to grow crops in an organic fashion; with fears about chemicals people have a keen interest in where their food is coming from. Having the ability to harvest your own fruit and veg means that you have 100% confidence in your food. This guide will discuss the options for netting that you have to keep the use of chemicals at bay. Gardeners and farmers have a lot of challenges to overcome when it comes to producing a full harvest. As we all have very busy lives it is even more important your allotment is protected using the proper materials when you are away from it for longer periods.

Most allotment owners will recommend crop cages, and most will make their own. You have a variety of options in terms of the net that you use with them. The standard is a decent bird netting (usually knitted but you can find strong extruded netting as well). This can be either stapled or nailed on to the crop cage frame; it can also be attached by placing the cage poles through the mesh. The ideal mesh size you are looking at is ideally is 2cm squared or less; this will keep out the majority of pesky birds. Insect netting can be used on the frame as well for extra protection; this meshing usually comes in at around 1mm squared and is useful especially in the summer when bugs become a real problem. Insect meshing can also be draped, in a sort of garden fleece style, over your plants for extra protection if you do not have a cage.

Here are some basic rules to follow regarding purchasing net from anti-bird to large fence meshing:-

1.Knitted (or knotted) is usually better than extruded meshing

2.It must be UV stabilised for use outside
3.Buying a larger size than needed will mean you have some spare for repairs
4.Pick a darker colour, animals tend to tamper and destroy brighter coloured items
5.Purchase pegs to help secure your mesh
6.Regarding Anti-bird netting, when buying you are able to use pond netting as well; usually this will be labelled as both.

Now the basic protection of crops has been covered we can move on to extra netting you can use to secure a healthy harvest. You can buy multipurpose garden netting (sometimes billed as debris netting as it is multi-use) and this will perform a wide range of jobs such as creating shade, protecting against wind and rain and also some larger animals. This can be placed around the allotment to provide an extra barrier and carry out multiple jobs.

If your allotment is subject to the attack of animals such as rabbits, squirrels, dogs etc! a wire mesh is recommended, these animals tend to chew or damage most forms of netting.

I hope you have found this article useful. I have only mentioned the basics that you will need; hopefully it will give you a good starting point in terms of pest prevention.

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