OK birds, you asked for it. We don’t mind sharing fruit but if you’re going to eat every last berry, then it’s war. Or, if not war, then a fruit cage it is.
We have tried hiding fruit bushes in borders. We tried whitecurrants. We tried netting clumps of ripening raspberries on the cane. They had the lot. Even the blackcurrants they ignored last year. Every single one. So what was going to be the fourth vegetable bed is going to be a fruit cage.
This site is a bit shady but gets a good six hours of full sun a day, so the currants and raspberries should be fine. If it’s a success, then we will underplant with strawberries.
The cage itself has had a lot of thought put into it. This is, after all, our front garden so utilitarian is not really an option. The chestnut poles to the left of the photograph will form the curve of the tunnel to the veggie garden and will double up as the ‘back’ of the cage. The other three sides will be straight and will be made of chestnut poles with horizontals linking them, sort of a pergola affair. There will be a taller post in the middle from which we will run ropes to the outer poles. This will be the permanent structure. The three straight sides will have frames with chicken wire inserted between the posts when the fruit has set and the top will be netted. The curve of the back wall will be chicken-wired permanently for the clematis and other climbers, but one of the spaces between the posts will become a door. With a bit of careful training, this could be a green-clothed door.
The only problem is a massive elder root right on one side. Gareth has already tried to remove it but it has resisted every effort. But he got rid of the huge willow stump where the wisteria is now, so I have every faith in him.
PS The cold frame glass went in yesterday so it is now fully functioning. I have asked for two more by the end of August as I got a fresh consignment of seeds from Thompson & Morgan the other day and the rosemary, rue and penstemons will have cuttings taken from them very shortly.
Tags: blackcurrants, fruit cage, raspberries, strawberries, whitecurrants
