The Fruit Cage… Finally!

It’s only been on my to-do list for the past year but I finally got round to making the fruitcage… Hooray! Unfortunately those blasted birds had already beaten me to the gooseberries for the second year in a row. I hoped they enjoyed them because that’s the last time they are ever going to be eating my homegrown berries! The blackcurrants on the other hand are starting to ripen and the raspberries need pruning back but are starting to produce tiny little fruits ready for Autumn picking.

The main uprights of the fruitcage were put in when I made the fence that goes round the entire plot, the wood was beaten into the ground with a post banger so that the bottoms are atleast 2 feet underground. The wood was a complete bargain at 50p each, they were more than tall enough for the plot fence but not tall enough for me to walk into the fruit cage. So the first job of the day was to attach pieces of old pallet to the cage uprights to make it tall enough for me to walk into, making the overall height 2 metres.

I also purchased some kick board wood to go around the bottom of the fruitcage, mainly to help keep the bark inside the cage but it would also make attaching the netting to the bottom easy too. After that it was just a matter of attaching lengths of batting onto the roof and around the top edge and then the frame was complete!

I headed back up the allotment Sunday morning to attach the netting around the cage, I did this by simply stapling the netting to the wood so it didn’t take very long to do at all. The side netting is stiff and will always be attached to the cage, whereas the roof netting is soft and will need to be removed in the Winter months incase any snow causes damage. I didn’t manage to attach the top netting but what I’m going to do is screw in curtain hooks around the top edge of the cage so that the net can be secured onto the roof but also have the option of taking it down later on. I’m also going to be making a door for the cage but for now the netting can cover the doorway to stop the birds from entering and eating my berries until I get round to that job, which hopefully won’t take another year! 🙂

I am so happy with how the cage looks and even happier at the thought of actually being able to harvest and eat my own homegrown blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries without competing with the birds! I just want to thank my Dad for being a star and helping me with the building, I promised to make him some black currant jam for all his help and I’m planning on making lots and lots and lots of jam!