Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[yarrow@sfo.com]

Last year, the birds were tasting every one of my blackberries before 
they were ripe. I was using the bird netting on the peas, so I got a 
lacy cotton tablecloth at the thrift shop on dollar day (for $1). 
I've also used net and tulle from the fabric store, both polyester (a 
step above plastic). They're useful mostly if your plants have 
finished blooming, because they don't have big enough openings for 
bees.

This year, I had berries ripening while the flowers were blooming, so 
I used the bird netting -- not my favorite thing to use, since it 
gets tangled in everything whenever I have to move it aside for 
picking. I had to cut myself out of it yesterday because it caught on 
a button. I find the other materials much easier to work with.

If you go to your local fabric store or thrift shop, you may be able 
to find something that works. Instead of row cover, I've also used an 
old sheer tablecloth (also $1 at the thrift shop) and flexible pieces 
of window screening (free at the community garden). Bedsheets and 
curtains may work as well. At least in my garden, all I need to do is 
make it a little harder to get the fruit. My coverings don't usually 
reach the ground, and I don't secure all the bottom edges. I do clip 
together the edges with clothespins. Most birds don't bother flying 
under the edges (except for a sparrow I saw inside the bird netting 
the other day, who, as I approached, flew back out), and I don't see 
any predation.

At 4:12 PM -0400 7/6/09, Harvey Ussery wrote:
> I netted my blueberry bed (nine plants) for years with plastic mesh bird
> netting. Last year the netting was too worn to use again, and by that
> time I'd gotten very reluctant to buy anything plastic I don't have to.
> So I didn't use any netting. And had surprisingly little losses to the
> birds--they got some, but we had plenty to eat and freeze.
>
> Going a bit differently this year: They're getting almost all the fruit.
> Back to netting, I guess (other ideas??), but I still hate the idea of
> buying plastic.
>
> Anybody know of a source of natural fiber bird netting? I've googled my
> fingers numb and there's nothing I can find that's not plastic. (Of
> course, if I do find natural netting it will probably be prohibitively
> expensive, no?)