How to Net a Raised Garden Bed (So the Net Never Touches Your Plants)

You've planted out your raised bed, and within a week something has found it. Birds pull up the seedlings, possums strip leaves overnight, and cabbage white caterpillars chew brassicas down to the stems. Netting stops all of them, but only when it's set up properly. Netting laid straight onto plants gets pecked and chewed through, and a gap along the bottom edge lets pests walk right in.

This guide covers which netting suits which pest, how to put it up step by step, how much you'll need for your bed, and the mistakes that let pests back in.

To net a raised garden bed, fit hoops across the bed so the netting sits clear of the plants. Drape the net over the hoops and secure every edge to the bed frame or the ground so there are no gaps. Bird garden netting keeps out birds. Fine insect mesh plant cover keeps out birds as well as caterpillars and small insects. Make one side easy to open for harvesting.

What Netting Should You Use on a Raised Bed?

Choose netting by the smallest pest you need to keep out. Bird netting is enough if birds and possums are the only problem. If caterpillars or fruit fly are damaging your crops, you need fine insect mesh. It keeps out birds too, so one net does both jobs.

Fine mesh has a trade-off. It also keeps out bees, so crops that need pollinating, like zucchini, pumpkin and cucumber, won't set fruit unless you open the net while they flower or pollinate them by hand. Fine mesh also slightly cuts airflow and light. In a hot Australian summer, check that plants under the net aren't overheating.

Shade cloth and frost cloth are not pest netting. Shade cloth cuts sun and frost cloth holds warmth, but neither one keeps pests out. The same hoops can hold either one when you need it.

How Do You Net a Raised Garden Bed?

Netting a raised bed takes five steps: measure, fit hoops, drape the net, secure the edges and leave one side you can open. Most pests get in through gaps at the edges, so steps 4 and 5 matter most.

How Much Netting Do You Need?

Your netting needs to cover the top of the hoops and come all the way down to the ground on every side, with some extra to secure. Use the bed's length and width, the hoop height and an overhang allowance. About 30 cm on each side is comfortable.

This formula treats curved hoops as if they were square, so it slightly overestimates. That's a good thing, because netting can be trimmed but a short net can't be stretched. If you have to join two pieces, overlap them well and clip along the join, because a seam gap lets pests in just like a gap at the base.

Is Your Netting Wildlife-Safe?

Netting is wildlife-safe when its holes are 5 mm × 5 mm or smaller when the net is fully stretched. A quick check is to try pushing your finger through. If it goes through, the mesh is too wide. Wider mesh can trap birds, flying-foxes, possums and snakes, and many of them are injured or die before anyone finds them. In Victoria this has been the law for backyard fruit tree netting since September 2021, and it's a sensible standard for any garden netting in Australia.

Fine insect mesh is well under that limit. Pulling the net taut and keeping loose folds off the ground also lowers the risk. Check the net every few days, and if an animal is ever caught, call your local wildlife rescue instead of trying to cut it free yourself.

Should You Buy a Netting Kit or Make a DIY Garden Net?

Both work well. Choose a kit if you want everything matched and ready in one box, and choose DIY if your bed is an unusual size or you already have materials.

To make a DIY net, bend lengths of poly pipe over stakes pushed into the soil, or fix them to the inside of a timber frame with pipe clamps. Then buy netting by the metre to fit your bed. You control every measurement, so the cover fits your bed exactly and you can make the hoops as tall as your crops need. The downside is the time it takes to source the parts and get the hoops even.

A kit saves that legwork, because the hoops, netting and clips are designed to work together. The trade-off is that the sizes are fixed. The Cludoo Garden Netting Kit is a typical example. It includes one 6.1 × 3.05 m sheet of fine mesh with 0.8 × 1 mm holes, plastic-coated steel tubes and connectors that make six hoops, and 12 clips. The mesh is fine enough for insects and is well inside the wildlife-safe limit. The listing doesn't state the finished width or height of the hoops, though, so you can't confirm they suit your bed until the kit arrives. The single sheet also limits how big a bed you can cover. Using the formula above with 60 cm hoops, the sheet covers a bed up to about 4.3 m long and 1.25 m wide, so it may not stretch over all six hoops at once.

Cludoo Garden Netting Kit

The Cludoo garden netting kit includes fine mesh netting, six sets of garden hoops and clips, so you can build covers over raised beds, vegetable plants and fruit plants in one go.

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Before you buy any kit, check the netting size against your own measurements. If the kit doesn't list hoop dimensions, allow for some trial and error during setup.

What Mistakes Let Pests Back In?

Most netting failures come from a few avoidable mistakes. A net that seems to "stop working" usually has one of these problems.

• Netting too late. Cabbage white butterflies may already have laid eggs before the net goes on, and the caterpillars then hatch inside a protected bed with no predators. Put the net on at planting time. If you're netting an existing bed, check under the leaves for eggs and caterpillars first.
• Letting the mesh touch the leaves. Butterflies can lay eggs through mesh that rests on a leaf, and birds can peck through it. As plants grow, they push up into the net. Check every couple of weeks and raise or add hoops if leaves are reaching the top.
• Small gaps at the base or seams. One loose corner is enough for a bird to walk in or a possum to push under. After windy days, walk around the bed and re-secure any edge that has lifted.
• Keeping bees out of crops that need them. Zucchini, pumpkin and cucumber need pollinating. Under fine mesh, open one side for a few hours on flowering mornings, or pollinate the flowers by hand.
• Ignoring heat. Fine mesh slightly reduces airflow. On very hot days, check that plants under the net aren't wilting more than those outside it.
• Making watering a chore. If you have to lift the net every time you water, you'll eventually leave it open. A drip irrigation kit for raised garden beds runs under the net, so you never have to lift it to water.

FAQ

Should I put a net over my raised garden bed?

Yes, if birds, possums or caterpillars are damaging your crops. Netting is one of the most reliable ways to protect seedlings, leafy greens and fruiting plants, as long as it sits clear of the leaves and is secured at the base.

What can I use to cover my raised garden bed?

It depends on the problem. Use bird netting or fine insect mesh for pests, shade cloth for harsh summer sun, and frost cloth for cold nights. The same set of hoops can hold any of them.

What can I use instead of garden netting?

Reflective bird scare tape and scare devices can deter birds for a while, and individual cloches can protect single seedlings. Neither one stops insects or possums the way a fully secured net does.

Which is better, black or white bird netting?

Black netting is harder to see and blends into the garden. White netting is easier for birds and other wildlife to spot, which can help them avoid it. Either works if the mesh is fine and pulled tight.

What is the best way to cover raised garden beds?

Put hoops over the bed and fit the cover on top, so it doesn't sit on the plants. Then secure all edges to the frame or the ground, and leave one side that opens easily.