I am wondering about the pros and cons of building a canopy/row cover for my urban raised beds.
For many reasons I am a convert to raised beds instead of planting in the ground. I've had some frustrating experiences with critters. For example, my lower beds were victimized by bunnies. So I made taller beds with chicken wire canopies. Those kept out bunnies and squirrels but made a perfect utopia for chipmunks. Which invited the snakes.
Now I'm thinking about using 1/4" hardware cloth, which should keep out any mammals, but also is so fine it might keep the pollinators out. I'm too lazy to hand-pollinate.
Now I am questioning this whole approach. Should I have a canopy at all? If so, should I leave the top open for pollinator access? Cover the top with chicken wire to keep out squirrels and birds?
To give you an example of the visitors I am 100% sure I'll have to my garden, because I have seen them with my own eyes in or around my raised beds:
- dogs
- cats
- deer
- birds
- snakes
- possums
- raccoons
- squirrels
- my neighbor's free-range chickens
- moles or voles (not sure which)
- groundhogs
- chipmunks
- rabbits
- coyotes
- foxes
- mice
- rats
by NorinBlade
6 Comments
I would. I went full caddy shack on the local gopher and got put on the no fly list. Also if you are really worried I would have done that for the bottoms of you beds to get them from digging up too.
Hardware cloth from inside the raised beds would have been better for voles.
I personally am not a fan of chicken wire because I do worry about harming a bird getting stuck. Less of an issue with rigid wire than nets.
Hardware cloth will not deter bees.
I do insect cloth for brassicas and new pumpkins and later open them up when flowering. Love being able to finally protect from small insects. Only issue is the fabric doesn’t last long and will be destroyed in a hail storm.
Following, same concerns here.
That’s quite a long list of critters! Have you thought of an electric fence? It’d keep the bigger ones out and I would suspect those are the ones doing the damage.
And then there are the cabbage moths and aphids etc!
I have 1/2″ 19 gauge galvanized hardware cloth stapled to the bottom of each raised bed.
I only cover my beds against bugs. Squirrels and raccoons I trap and relocate. Don’t know what to tell you about some of the other intruders but the chickens would be dinner.😂