The Ultimate Garden Netting Guide
Garden netting is one of the most versatile items you can add to your yard and garden, and it boasts an array of uses, from protecting your harvest against birds to giving your vegetables more places to grow. Garden netting can also be low-cost and easy to install. Most garden nets are lightweight, don’t obstruct airflow, sunlight, or pollinating insects, and blend in with foliage so you barely notice they’re there.
One of the most popular uses for garden netting is to deter birds from feasting on fruit, berries, and vegetables in your garden. Garden bird netting allows you to still invite birds into your yard, but encourages them to eat at the bird feeder and stay away from trees, bushes, and other plants. Birds love to eat berries, sunflower seeds and vegetables like peas and will beat you to them if given the chance.
Garden bird netting is available in both single-strand netting and multi-strand netting. Single-strand netting is more lightweight, appropriate for more fragile plants like lettuce, whereas multi-strand netting is more difficult to break, and will last for years.
Installing this sort of protection for your plants allows you to continue to enjoy the presence of wildlife in your yard. The birds can focus their attention on bird feeders around the yard, and leave your plants to you.
A garden net does not necessarily have to be about protecting your garden from intrusion. It can also be used to help the garden grow and thrive. One of the most unique methods to use netting in the garden is through the use of a trellis system. Many people are not even aware of their ability grow their garden vertically. Traditional home garden are spread out across the ground. Plants for the garden either cover the ground or come in the bush variety.
Vertical gardening is a method in which you grow your plants upwards through the use of a trellis. These garden trellis netting systems can allow you to grow tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, and even melons vertically. A properly installed support system coupled with a garden net will allow your plants to grow and attach themselves to the trellis. You will find that your plants are surprisingly strong, and as long as your support poles are firmly planted, your vegetables and fruit will have no problem growing up the net. This can be a very good gardening solution for those with space restrictions.
There are a number of different varieties of netting for garden available. Nylon, plastic, saran, and polypropylene are among the materials used for this purpose. Depending on your needs for protection, durability, and price will determine which material works best for your situation.
Plastic garden netting is also available in different types – net bags, netting sheets, and bulk netting. Bird and pest net bags can be placed over a shrub, bush or small tree – easy on, easy off. Garden netting sheets are just that – large sheets to lay over gardens, shrubs, bushes or trees. Lastly, you can purchase netting in bulk giving you more option on how to use it – you can cut it down to custom – fit a plant or garden or make use of it in other ways, like shading your garden.
Another important use of garden netting is for shading your plants. Garden shade netting does more than just offer shade from intense sun – shade netting also protects plants from damaging winds and overpowering heat. Garden shade netting can be used to harden transplants before they go in the ground or it can help lengthen the harvest time for some vegetables. Shading your garden will also keep garden soil moist for longer, thus saving water.
Despite the apparent contradiction in using shade for your plants, it can actually add a lot of versatility to what you are able to do with your garden. For one thing, it can extend your growing season for some plants. Your spring garden can last longer into the summer, and your fall garden will have a better chance of making it through the late heat of the hotter months.
Whatever your need for garden netting is, there is certainly a situation in which to use it. Netting is a great way to protect your garden from both environmental forces, as well as uninvited pests. The uses for this type of netting are almost as limitless as your imagination to put them to use.