Bye, Bye, Birdies

 

You can look.

But you can't touch.

 The netting went up on the boysenberries this morning.  The berries are ahead of schedule ripening and need to be covered with protection from the birds. 

This post is a note for my reference to remember how to put the netting up fairly quickly.

Tools needed:

• Netting.  Use the fabric cut this season for as long as possible.  One roll of 1/4" netting (7' X 100') will cover 3 berry structures.
• Scissors.  If fresh netting is required.
• Staples.  These are used to secure the netting to the ground.
• Hammer.  The ground can be a bit tough and a hammer helps push the staples completely into the ground securing the netting.

Here's how to do it:

• Take one section of netting that drapes from the ground on the north side of the structure over to the south side of the structure.
• Make sure enough fabric drapes over the one of the main posts to cover completely.
• Drape second section of netting the same way.
• Make sure enough fabric drapes over the remaining main post to cover completely.
• Overlap the two sections at the center of the structure.
• Use staples to secure the fabric to the ground around the structure.

Thornless Boysenberries

Don't tent the netting tightly against the berries.  Those pesky birds will use that netting to peck through to the produce.  Loose is fine.  Make sure to secure to the ground around each structure.  This will combat those pests from hopping up from the ground to steal the berries.