Saturday, June 18, 2011

Making Strawberry Cages


The biggest advantage of growing strawberries at home is that you can eat the ripest strawberries when they are at their best. Unfortunately, birds and squirrels tend to get them first as they hang out all day just to steal your best strawberries at the perfect ripeness. A few days ago I transplanted my potted strawberries into the ground because they have long outgrown the little pots. Putting them in the ground will give them the opportunity to propagate and grow more strawberries. However, I know the squirrels around here. They eat the peaches, apples, loquats, strawberries, and even tomatoes.  Unless I eat the strawberries before they become fully ripe, I often don't get any strawberry.


Last night as I laid down to sleep, I thought about how I could protect the strawberries from the bushy tailed bandits. I thought that I could make cages just big enough for the strawberries. Since they stay pretty low to the ground, they cages don't need to be tall, and I have the perfect material to make them.

I bent and rolled pieces of green wire netting and placed them around the strawberries. For the openings on the top or on the sides, I either used black bird netting or nylon netting bag from buying various groceries. When the strawberries are ready, it will be a little more work to remove the cage and netting, but that may be well worth it.

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