Spud Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Hi guys, Late last summer (September-ish?) I started a vegetable patch. I spent hours preparing the soil, carefully selecting which varieties to purchase, and spacing out the plants/seeds. All went well for about a month, until EVERYTHING was devoured by my 4 wonderful chooks. I had used some cheap netting from Wilkos, but apparently this wasn't sufficient! I now really want to try again at growing my own, but was wondering how I should protect the vegetables from the chickens? I understand that I can purchase netting from this website, but at £62 it's fairly pricey and I'm on a budget. Is there a more economical way of creating an effective barrier between the chooks and the veg? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 how about this idea Its just chicken wire and bamboo canes. They don't jump over it and its easy to remove for planting etc! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud Posted January 19, 2008 Author Share Posted January 19, 2008 That looks easy enough! Thank you very much! My last patch was straight into the ground with compost dug into it... would a raised bed like that be better? If so, what's the most economical way of getting compost/soil to fill it, and getting wood to go around the edge? My initial concern was that a raised bed would limit planting space... do you find that to be a problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesleyH Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Similar to the pics above - we bought some rolls of stiff netting - about a foot high - from our local garden centre and used bamboo sticks to fix it in place - it was inexpensive and works a treat. For some reason they never attempt to jump it or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 I have an allotment and my chickens over summered on it from about february last year. To be honest once the plants were more mature the girls lost interest - there was so much grass and bugs to rootle for they left the plants alone. Only in the autumn they discovered raspberry canes and elderberries and they were in trouble for a day or too for making a dust bath in my neighbours carrot seedlings - she threatened to turn them into curry (but now brings them treats every day when I am at work instead). I am planning on making some raised beds and following Christian's lead with the low chicken wire. I also used trellis stuff and that worked okay last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 how about this idea Its just chicken wire and bamboo canes. They don't jump over it and its easy to remove for planting etc! You've solved my problem for my planned herb garden . Thank you . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 The wood is gravel board from B&Q and cost about £10-£11 for 5 planks the length you can see. I nailed them into shape and then screwed them together to strengthen them. They work really well. The compost was pricey and it took quite a few bags to fill even the smaller beds, but now the girls are producing lots of manure, my 3 compost bins are full!! Will be using that this year instead! We live in a frost pocket and the raised beds warm up quicker than the surrounding soil, so I can plant earlier. I love the beds, they work really well for me! Here is the finished veggie garden - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 Garden looks very very good - well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little chickadee Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Wow - you have been busy Christian. You should see our allotment (In our defense we've only had it for a year and it's huge) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Wish we could put our chooks on the allotment, but we are not allowed livestock We are going to build some raised beds at home at the weekend for growing salad crops, and we are going to put enviromesh lids on them to keep the aphids and chooks at bay. We were lucky enough to know someone who was building some flats and we have had loads of offcut planks and other wood from him that otherwise would have been burnt on site. It might be worth trying to find a builder near by who wants rid of some wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
