Net Gains - April 2012

NET GAINS - APRIL 2012

Versatile is a term often bandied about when it comes to describing garden equipment but in the case of Harrod Horticultural’s Slot and Lock® connector and crop protection cage range, it’s a title well merited.

For it’s not only taller grow your own vegetable crops which benefit from the innovative Slot and Lock technology in the form of the 1.2m and 1.5m high structures, as low growing fruit and veg enjoy a bird and butterfly-free existence too thanks to the low level cages.

Encompassing the stunning build quality –including 1.2mm wall thickness, 16mm diameter aluminium tubing - of their bigger brothers, the ground hugging Slot and Lock cages provide 45cm of growing height, are available in sizes up to 6 metres square and will keep salads and strawberries smiling all summer long. There’s a natural aluminium finish for traditionalists and for those gardeners who just want to enjoy the crop protection benefits a cage brings but don’t want to stare at it all day, the discreet matt black powder coated version will prove very enticing.

And you really can’t contain the secure Slot and Lock connectors as not only do they prove fundamental to the success of our semi-permanent crop protection cages but they form the cornerstone of the – and that word versatile was created for these cages – bed-hopping and patio-friendly Harrod Slot and Lock® Portable Cage.  
  
This 1.5m high freestanding fortress can be placed over patio pots and containers or shifted with regularity and ease around the garden to spot protect ripening fruit and pest-threatened vegetables with brassicas particularly pleased to see the 7mm soft knitted mesh butterfly netting looming overhead.

And on the subject of garden netting, it’s an area where Harrod Horticultural can really flex their muscles and display their expertise; after all they’ve been making nets in the fishing port of Lowestoft for almost 60 years! But these days the Harrod nets keep pigeons out rather than pilchards in with carrot fly, aphids, whitefly, butterflies, birds, rabbits and deer all cursing the ingenuity and sheer range of the netting available.  

Of course, there’s no real substitute for the erstwhile Aluminium Walk-In Fruit Cage with a full 2m of working height and easy access door for larger scale, fully protected fruit and vegetable growing but when it comes to these low level Slot and Lock cages, small really is beautiful!