Protect Your Veggies Year Round: 5 Garden Netting Ideas

28/02/2023 Rob Walter

Discover inspiring garden netting ideas that will help you protect your plants from pests, birds, and more. Read our blog post to find out how to secure your garden and keep it looking beautiful using netting at WM James.

Growing your own veg at home is a rewarding experience and a great pastime. Why? Because, like many avid gardeners, you can use your home-grown produce to cook up a delicious family meal or just enjoy the sight of a flourishing garden. 

But, as with anything, gardening comes with its own set of challenges – namely, pests like birds and insects that pick at your vegetable garden and ruin your hard-earned efforts.

Here at WM James, we know all too well the importance of keeping your vegetables safe and sound. We stock a whole range of garden netting so that you can protect your veggies (and other plants) all year round.

To help you protect your veg from unwanted snackers, we've laid out 5 garden netting ideas to make sure you get the healthiest harvests and the best-looking garden this growing season – let’s grow!

General Purpose Garden Net

Let’s start with the general-purpose garden net. If you want to ensure that you are discouraging birds from getting into your garden, this is a very solid option.

It’s convenient and easy to use (more on that in just a moment) and durable enough to last through the seasons. 

The general-purpose garden net features a 20mm square mesh size, making it extremely difficult for our feathered friends to find their way in. 

Plus, our innovative knotless design means our netting is super strong against pecking beaks, so you can be confident your veg will be safe from all sides.

You can even use this netting for other crops and plants, like climbing plants, garden bedding, or fruit trees.

If birds are your main problem, get in touch with us to request a sample.

How to Use

This garden netting is particularly easy to use.

If you have found that birds have been stopping in at your veg patch for lunch, you can drape this over your plants or put together a frame or cage from which you can hang this.

We offer a range of different supports and fasteners to help you to tie on your netting.

Butterfly Plant Netting

Everyone loves butterflies, but anyone who grows their own veggies knows that these beautiful creatures can cause serious damage.

When they land on your plants looking for nectar, they can end up spreading pollen all over them. This can result in diseased plants and can ruin your next harvest.

If you know that you have a butterfly problem, then invest in Butterfly Plant Netting.

Our 4m long netting is UV stabilised to stay sturdy and in place no matter how much sunshine it gets. You can also use it for commercial or home purposes, and it is long-lasting and durable.

Plus, it will keep out other insects, like flea beetles and stop birds from getting in, so it's a great all-round choice.

How to Use

Butterfly netting is nice and soft, so you can place it directly onto your plants or use a netting frame to hang it from.

Just make sure that you are being careful when you do so, and you won’t need to worry about any damage to your crops. 

You could also look at installing some hoops if you are netting veggies that haven’t grown very tall yet; otherwise, think about building a cage.

Heavy-Duty Brassica Netting

Growing fruit is such a labour of love, and there is nothing worse than getting to your brassica crops and realising that something else has been at it.

Birds find fruit plants almost impossible to resist, so you should seriously consider investing in some netting options that aren’t messing about. 

Heavy-duty brassica netting can protect your fruit trees and plants from birds and any other pests that may have designs on your harvest.

It has an 18mm square mesh that will let the pollinating insects that you need to get through, and it will keep those hungry birds out. It is also UV-stabilised and rot-proof.

How to Use

This heavy-duty netting is designed to be used on the side of fruit cages. Once you have built the cage structure, you will need to measure how much netting you need to order. We sell this product in linear metres. 

Make sure that the netting is fastened securely. Birds can be very determined, so it’s best to leave nothing to chance and use plenty of fixings.

Fine Insect Netting

Next up, we have those pesky insects. Insects can drive a gardener crazy trying to figure out how to keep these tiny pests out.

Everyone knows that it is best to avoid using pesticides where possible, and insect netting for garden plants is by far the best solution.

Our fine insect protection netting allows light and moisture to get through while keeping a large number of different insects out. The mesh size is 1.35mm by 1.35mm, so anyone growing carrots with enough carrot fly can rest assured that it will protect your crops.

How to Use

This is very fine mesh netting, so you can feel confident laying it down directly on top of your crops. It also comes with secure edges, so you do not need to worry about any kind of decay or rot.

It is worth noting that if you are worried about flea beetle, white fly, thrips, or onion fly, then you should look at our Ultra Fine Insect Mesh Netting. 

Fruit Cages

We mentioned fruit cages earlier when we were discussing the best ways to keep hungry birds away from any crops that you are growing.

Fruit cages are handy for anyone who is looking to do more than grow a single fruit tree at the bottom of their garden.

However, you can also use fruit cages to protect your vegetables. As the name suggests, they provide an extra layer of security to your crops that you may not get from hoops or simple netting.

At WM James, we stock a variety of fruit cages, each fit for different purposes:

Low Fruit Cages

Low fruit cages are perfect for most root vegetable crops, and they have the bonus of being easy to install and very sturdy.

Our classic steel low vegetable cages only need a pair of sharp scissors to set up, and they come with steel uprights which are spiked at the bottom to allow you to push them into the ground.

Our low vegetable cages have side and roof netting to keep those birds and other pests, such as butterflies out. 

Walk-in Fruit Cages

If you have a lot of crops that you need to keep an eye on and want to be able to access easily, consider a walk-in fruit cage.

These bigger options allow you the freedom to install more rows in your vegetable patches and for you to get inside and give them the attention you need without having to remove any netting.

Our classic steel walk-in fruit cage is 2.36 metres high and includes a 1-metre-wide door. When you order from us, you will also receive side and roof netting and fixtures.

Summary: Garden Netting Ideas From Our Garden Experts

There are a lot of different pests and predators out there that can damage your veggie crops. It is always a much better choice to protect your plants with netting instead of using pesticides and other chemical products.

They’re easy to install, and you can find a wide range of options depending on what you need to protect your crops from.

There are netting options that can keep butterflies off your plants to keep them from spreading pollen, nets designed to keep birds away from your fruit and veg plants, and nets that will keep insects out but allow moisture and light through. 

At WM James, we're experts in garden netting solutions, and we offer a wide range of options, including fruit cages for complete plant protection and netting perfectly designed to keep the smallest of insects away from your vegetable garden bed.

FAQs