Kitchen Garden Forum

This is very useful data and deserves a place where it can be found Please keep to the spirit of this forum and add data on any methods that you know of but don't start another free-for-all.

The mesh cage
Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:03 am

Mice, voles, slugs and snails, rabbits, birds, what you will. As growers in the middle of the countryside we get all that vermin and more. The only 100% system of defence that I have is large cages 2'x 1' high, length depends on usage but mine are long enough for the long growbag trays or alternatively 2 of the large square ones. The frames are covered with metal mesh that comes in 3x2 sheets (netlon) or on a roll from some pet shops. The frames are made from 1"x1" timber, screwed and stapled at corners, then the mesh fixed with a staple gun. There is a lid that fits inside the top of the frames, supported by the overlapping mesh. Panels are tied together with garden wire but a better method is about to go on trial any day.
When not in use as full cages for seedling peas, beans,sweetcorn etc.,the side panels are used as rabbit fence round lettuce,chicory etc. I have 8 sets, couldn't raise anything without them.
Allan

Dear Allan, may i just ask what the outcome was for the better method of fixing the panels together that you were going to trial.

Many thanks.

We never came up with anything better. Wire is fiddly but it is cheap, Anything more robust means that if the cage gets mishandled breakages could occur.
Allan

Our local Asda has excellent, green, plastic coated metal mesh in five metre rolls for just under £6 a go, it's really strong, bendy ( so you can just make a 5m v-shaped tunnel with it) non rusting and not scratchy like chicken wire. Good for pea supports too and covering water butts. I've even coiled it into cylinders (tied to canes in the ground) to store plant-pots to size in a wind-proof manner. It's brill .