Has anyone ever built a frame to go around at least part of a garden or bed? I've got strawberry beds needing squirrels kept out, a few pots I have to keep squirrels out of, and an area or two needing shade cloth (turns out good windows reflect a lot of sun back outside burning the plants nearby if they're facing a certain way).

I'm thinking of making simple PVC structures that can just be lifted up for the smaller areas and maybe have hinged doors for the largest area (especially if I completely enclose the raspberry/ strawberry patch). Would 1/2 pipe work or should I go for 3/4? I've got stakes that can keep it in the ground. I'm also debating getting a color (they had white, black, clear, yellow, and red, maybe green) or even spray painting it to make it look nicer. Birds aren't too big of an issue, mostly just squirrels planting peanuts everywhere (I've pulled at least 1 peanut plant from our property every day for the last week and lost track of the number of peanuts I found in my pots when I prepared them this spring).

Basically, if anyone's got tips, tricks, ideas, I'd love to hear them. Next spring squirrels will likely be a bigger issue since I doubt I'll be working from home like this spring (my dog spent way more time in the yard this year keeping the squirrels out and they still managed to do damage).

My wonderful and talented late husband built a "tomato room" using copper piping and it included a "door" for entrance/exit. Bird mesh went over the entire top and sides to keep the birds out.


In the winter of 2012-2013 we had a major snowstorm and the weight of the snow on the mesh bent the piping at the top. That was the end of that garden but the pipes are still used for dahlia stakes.

That is awesome! If I had a larger garden, I'd definitely go for something like that (maybe if I ever get my dream property). Right now my areas are much smaller and my terrier mix does a good job of running out any critters (only 1 rabbit has come in the backyard this year despite them overrunning the neighbors yards). Here's the things I'd like to cover.

Raised beds. The one on the right needs a shade cover since light reflects off the window and overheats it.


Strawberry/ raspberry patch. Mostly just need to keep out squirrels. Birds don't bother the raspberries since they're black raspberries.


Pots. Right has carrots (they don't grow well in ground here). Other 2 are dwarf blueberry.

What is growing in the bed with the reflected light? Any chance of covering the window from the outside?

Keeping squirrels out is a major undertaking. I have them in all gardens.

Are the pots also being attacked?

Strawberries were in that bed but they died. Tried petunias but they nearly all died before I figured out what was going on. Ideally it will be a strawberry bed for ever bearing strawberries. The strawberries in the far left are surviving but the rest all died. The squirrels wouldn't be as big of a problem if the neighbors didn't feed them unshelled peanuts. They really like digging in the loose soil of my pots since ground here is a lot of clay. They dug my carrots up twice.

Trying to outsmart them could be a lifelong hobby.

Found your post a bit late for you may be. But I have some experience with this. If you are using plastic pvc pipes go for at least 1 inch or 1-1/4 inch pipes. Otherwise they will not will hold up. Paint the pipes to protect them against UV. Unpainted will probably still last 5 years or so. There are several websites that sell many types of connectors specifically to make garden structures. Eg: http://www.littlegreenhouse.co... . There is also furniture grade PVC pipes available - I have not used them but they are more durable I believe. This is our PVC trellis made with 1 inch PVC pipes



If you want a more durable structure use 3/4 to 1 inch EMT conduits that they use for running electrical wires. The fittings are available for a reasonable price on the net. Look for EMT canopy fittings. I made a small 10x8 structure with 1 inch tubes and fittings some 10+ years back and it is still standing intact. Even survived a 15 ft crabapple tree that fell on it. In summer it protects my veges from critters. I use a plastic fence around it with two PVC doors. In winter, with plastic cover, protects my outdoor bonsai plants.



Any questions let me know.

tropicofcancer said:Found your post a bit late for you may be. But I have some experience with this. If you are using plastic pvc pipes go for at least 1 inch or 1-1/4 inch pipes. Otherwise they will not will hold up. Paint the pipes to protect them against UV. Unpainted will probably still last 5 years or so. There are several websites that sell many types of connectors specifically to make garden structures. Eg: http://www.littlegreenhouse.co... . There is also furniture grade PVC pipes available - I have not used them but they are more durable I believe. This is our PVC trellis made with 1 inch PVC pipes



If you want a more durable structure use 3/4 to 1 inch EMT conduits that they use for running electrical wires. The fittings are available for a reasonable price on the net. Look for EMT canopy fittings. I made a small 10x8 structure with 1 inch tubes and fittings some 10+ years back and it is still standing intact. Even survived a 15 ft crabapple tree that fell on it. In summer it protects my veges from critters. I use a plastic fence around it with two PVC doors. In winter, with plastic cover, protects my outdoor bonsai plants.



Any questions let me know.

Those look great! Thanks for the tip. I'm hoping I can save a bit of money up to buy some stuff to build with for next summer. I've got a few makeshift things in place right now. If I had the space (and money) I'd be doing so much more. Maybe I can use that conduit as a frame to lay cattle panels or concrete reinforcing wire panels on to make my tomato arches next year. So many ideas. So little space/ money.

I think that I would go with the 3/4" PVC.

We use shade material to try to protect tomatoes from sunburn. Half-inch diameter PVC pipe and "T" or "cross" fittings are used for the frame. Rebar cut into sections about 18-inches long and driven part-way into the ground anchors the pipe in place. In this case, we had some mesh fabric sold in a 50 foot by 6 foot roll that we bought at a flea market. It allows morning sun and then filters the afternoon sun. It is easy to disassemble and store out of the way.

For the tomatoes, we just put the shade mesh cloth (available from Harbor Freight at pretty reasonable prices) on the cages, which are made from concrete wire mesh. Like just about everyone else, we've had a hot summer with no relief in sight so we installed the shade material a few days ago. It isn't aesthetically pleasing, but it does the job. It is a little like having a fort in the backyard when stooped over, wandering through the tomato cages, picking tomatoes under the shade material.

If you are wondering what the deal is with the tomatoes under the PVC frame shade, that is my grafted tomato experiment, which I hope to report on favorably later. As of now, no news to report other than the tomatoes are growing pretty well even though they got a late start. Here is a link to the grafting post.
https://garden.org/thread/view...