They Built A Cage Around Their Garden
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Tired of birds raiding their garden and bird deterrents that didn’t work, Matt Stewart and his wife built a cage around their garden. The 12 1/2-ft. wide, 20-ft. long, and 8-ft. tall structure keeps birds out and plants healthy. Not only is it effective, but it’s attractive too.
“When we moved from Washington State, we discovered that birds were our enemies in the garden,” says Stewart. “Any green shoots were gone. A friend’s garden screen house gave us the idea, but we wanted an eclectic design. We knew we wouldn’t find that at a big box store.”
Searching for surplus scrap material was Stewart’s biggest challenge. Seeing an ad for leftover drop panels was a big breakthrough.
“A local fabrication shop advertised panels left over from their manufacturing business,” says Stewart. “The unusual designs of the parts that had been cut out with a CNC captured my wife Nancy’s artistic eye. We ended up buying 4 by 8-ft. panels for $25 each.”
Once they had the panels, the Stewarts drew up plans for the screen house. They assembled scrap and surplus materials for most of the structure, leaving them uncoated to develop their patina.
Stewart called on skills gained during his 30-year career in a naval shipyard. He also turned to a variety of materials he had stockpiled from friends and other sources, such as a surplus steel yard and Surplus Center online.
“I made the uprights out of used well casing pipe a friend had given me,” says Stewart. “Another friend had steel C-channel he had acquired from a warehouse demolition project. It lay in the desert for a number of years and was nicely rusted. It provided the frame structure for the project.”
Once the frame and uprights were in place, Stewart added the panels to the outside and 1/2-in. welded hardware mesh to the inside. It was small enough to keep out the birds yet allowed most pollinators through.
Stewart discovered a regional fencing supplier on Craigslist who had a warehouse full of the mesh. It ended up being one of the few materials he bought new.
“We attached the mesh by sandwiching it between flat washers and the panels, welding through the holes to secure the washers,” says Stewart.
The finishing touch was a set of 4-ft. wide, 6 1/2-ft. tall rolling barn doors for the entryway. Stewart trimmed a drop panel to the desired height and fastened the mesh to it. He used the leftover pieces above the doorway, which he framed with 1-in. sq., 1/8-in. steel tubing.
“We modified the plan several times throughout the build to accommodate the structure, location, available materials, and so forth,” says Stewart. “We built it over a year and a half period. I documented the entire build on my YouTube channel, Matt the Scrap Whisperer.”
The screen house has been a success at more than Stewart and his wife had hoped. “It does a fabulous job keeping out birds,” he says. “An unintended benefit is it makes a great snake barrier. They tend to look for a shady place to hide, and our raised beds were an ideal location.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Matt Stewart, 1215 E. Skyfield Dr., Huachuca City, Arizona 85616 (ph 360-813-2171; stewartmatt591@gmail.com).
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They Built A Cage Around Their Garden CROPS New Techniques Tired of birds raiding their garden and bird deterrents that didn’t work Matt Stewart and his wife built a cage around their garden The 12 1/2-ft wide 20-ft long and 8-ft tall structure keeps birds out and plants healthy Not only is it effective but it’s attractive too “When we moved from Washington State we discovered that birds were our enemies in the garden ” says Stewart “Any green shoots were gone A friend’s garden screen house gave us the idea but we wanted an eclectic design We knew we wouldn’t find that at a big box store ” Searching for surplus scrap material was Stewart’s biggest challenge Seeing an ad for leftover drop panels was a big breakthrough “A local fabrication shop advertised panels left over from their manufacturing business ” says Stewart “The unusual designs of the parts that had been cut out with a CNC captured my wife Nancy’s artistic eye We ended up buying 4 by 8-ft panels for $25 each ” Once they had the panels the Stewarts drew up plans for the screen house They assembled scrap and surplus materials for most of the structure leaving them uncoated to develop their patina Stewart called on skills gained during his 30-year career in a naval shipyard He also turned to a variety of materials he had stockpiled from friends and other sources such as a surplus steel yard and Surplus Center online “I made the uprights out of used well casing pipe a friend had given me ” says Stewart “Another friend had steel C-channel he had acquired from a warehouse demolition project It lay in the desert for a number of years and was nicely rusted It provided the frame structure for the project ” Once the frame and uprights were in place Stewart added the panels to the outside and 1/2-in welded hardware mesh to the inside It was small enough to keep out the birds yet allowed most pollinators through Stewart discovered a regional fencing supplier on Craigslist who had a warehouse full of the mesh It ended up being one of the few materials he bought new “We attached the mesh by sandwiching it between flat washers and the panels welding through the holes to secure the washers ” says Stewart The finishing touch was a set of 4-ft wide 6 1/2-ft tall rolling barn doors for the entryway Stewart trimmed a drop panel to the desired height and fastened the mesh to it He used the leftover pieces above the doorway which he framed with 1-in sq 1/8-in steel tubing “We modified the plan several times throughout the build to accommodate the structure location available materials and so forth ” says Stewart “We built it over a year and a half period I documented the entire build on my YouTube channel Matt the Scrap Whisperer ” The screen house has been a success at more than Stewart and his wife had hoped “It does a fabulous job keeping out birds ” he says “An unintended benefit is it makes a great snake barrier They tend to look for a shady place to hide and our raised beds were an ideal location ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Matt Stewart 1215 E Skyfield Dr Huachuca City Arizona 85616 ph 360-813-2171; stewartmatt591@gmail com
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