Defend fruit trees and gardens from wildlife

No matter how cute they might be, it's important to keep your garden free of unwanted guests. Here's how you can ensure that your garden and veggies stay healthy and uneaten.

Birds have voracious appetites for soft fruit of all kinds, which makes protecting crops essential. Protection is easiest for bush fruit like raspberries and blackcurrants, and for low-growing strawberries.

• Cherry or plum trees are hard to protect, but you can throw netting over a small tree for short periods. Or hang old CDs, strands of cassette tape, or pieces of scrunched-up foil secured with string onto the branches. This will work for a while, but birds quickly become immune to it.
• For individual bushes, set three or four canes around each bush, top them with glass jars, and drape netting over the top. Pull it taut, then secure it at the base with wire pegs.
• For a large area, construct a fruit cage high enough to walk inside of. Buy a kit with metal uprights or make a frame using 75 × 50 millimetre (3 x 2 inch) pressure-treated timber for the corner posts, and 50 × 50 millimetre (2 x 2 inch) timber for intermediate posts placed two metres (6.5 feet) apart. Link all posts with heavy-duty wire stretched taut, and construct a door from overlapped netting or wood. Attach the netting with staples and secure it at ground level with wire pegs or with bricks or stones.
• For strawberries, make a cane framework for netting around the whole bed, or push sturdy hoops into the ground that you can stretch netting over.

Rabbits can eat through an entire crop in a single night, or destroy your prized flowers just for a snack. Your first line of defense is a chicken-wire fence, which needs to enclose the entire garden or vegetable patch.

• Hammer metre-long (3 feet-long) stakes into the ground about 1.5 metres (5 feet) apart. Unroll a metre-wide roll of chicken-wire and make a bend about 20 centimetres (8 inches) deep along its length. Stand the wire against the stakes so that the bent portion faces outwards to stop the rabbits from digging underneath. Another tactic is to bury the bottom 20 centimetres (8 inches) of the wire fence in the ground. Then attach the wire to the stakes.
• In addition, use commercial repellents and apply them in the evenings and after it rains, which is when rabbits come out to feed. Serious rabbit infestations may need to be dealt with by professional pest controllers.

Gardens are hard work and require lots of love and attention. Whether you're dealing with birds or bunnies, these tips will help keep your garden safe from furry and feathered intruders.