Kitchen Garden Forum

Just thought I'd drop a reminder to those with light netting fruit cages to take anti-snow measures before it's too late. I can't easily remove the top netting so I reinforce it with 7ft canes, 2ft apart, slid thro' the netting both laterally and lengthwise and place a pole prop to support the centre strut. Good luck!

Sensible, I didn't (a few years ago).

I had a large fruit cage on an offshore island and used to have to take it all down every autumn as the gales would bend the posts. So it was never an issue when it snowed...

We had a lot of damage to our brassica cage last winter when the weight of the snow broke the uprights and tore the netting itself (admittedly, it was a few years old and had given us good service). This year we have used smaller gauge netting to try and exclude cabbage whites but this is, of course, even more prone to snow damage. So we have taken it off altogether for the winter. Luckily, we have never had any pigeon damage on the plot. So, here is hoping!