7 Best Affordable Nettings For Small Gardens To Protect Your Harvest

You’ve spent months tending your tomato plants, and the first blush of red is finally showing on the vine. The next morning, you walk out to find every single one pecked to ruin by a flock of birds. This isn’t just frustrating; it’s a preventable loss of time, effort, and food. The right netting is one of the most effective, low-cost insurance policies for your harvest.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Choosing Netting for Birds, Bugs, and Deer

The first thing to understand is that there is no single "best" netting. The right choice depends entirely on what you’re trying to keep out. The most critical factor is mesh size. A 1-inch mesh will stop a robin but won’t do a thing against a cabbage moth.

Think of it as a hierarchy of defense.

• Large Pests (Deer, Raccoons): You need a strong, thick, fence-like material, not a drape-over net. The goal is a physical barrier they can’t easily push through or chew.
• Medium Pests (Birds, Squirrels): A standard 3/4-inch or 1-inch mesh is perfect. It’s lightweight enough to drape over plants or a frame without blocking too much sun.
• Small Pests (Insects): You need a very fine mesh, often called insect netting or a floating row cover. This will stop flea beetles and cabbage worms, but it also blocks pollinators and reduces airflow, so use it strategically.

Don’t over-buy. You don’t need expensive, heavy-duty deer fencing to protect your blueberries from starlings. Likewise, cheap bird netting won’t stop a determined deer from walking right through it. Identify your primary threat and choose the tool designed for that specific job.

Agfabric Standard Bird Netting for Berry Patches

This is the classic, affordable black plastic netting you see everywhere, and for good reason. It’s incredibly effective for its intended purpose: keeping birds off berry bushes and strawberry patches. It’s typically a lightweight polypropylene with a 3/4-inch diamond or square mesh.

The key to using this netting effectively is to keep it off the plants. If you just drape it directly onto a blueberry bush, birds can still land on it and peck the fruit right through the holes. Use stakes, PVC hoops, or a simple wood frame to create a tent-like structure over your plants. This creates a real barrier and also makes it much easier for you to get underneath to harvest without getting tangled.

Be aware of the downsides. This stuff tangles on everything—twigs, buttons, and itself. When installing or removing it, work slowly and methodically, or you’ll end up with a knotted mess. Also, ensure the bottom edges are secured to the ground so birds can’t get trapped underneath, and be mindful that snakes can sometimes get caught in netting laid flat on the ground.

Valibe Plant Cover & Insect Netting for Brassicas

If you’ve ever watched your beautiful broccoli or kale get skeletonized by tiny green cabbage worms, you need insect netting. This material is more like a sheer fabric than a net, with a mesh so fine that even the smallest pests can’t get through. It’s an absolute game-changer for growing brassicas organically.

This type of cover is designed to be used with hoops to create a low tunnel over a row of plants. It allows sunlight, air, and water to penetrate, creating a protected microclimate. You put it on the day you plant your seedlings and leave it there until harvest. Because brassicas don’t require insect pollination to produce a harvest (we eat the leaves and florets, not the fruit), you can keep them covered the entire time.

The main tradeoff is airflow. On very hot, still days, it can get a bit steamy under the cover, so ensure it’s not pulled completely taut. Also, remember that it blocks all insects, including beneficial ones. For crops that need pollination, like squash or cucumbers, you’ll need to remove the cover once they start to flower.

Tenax C-Flex Deer Fence for Perimeter Protection

When your problem is four-legged and hungry, you need to think about a perimeter, not a cover. Tenax C-Flex and similar products are a cost-effective way to fence a small garden against deer. It’s a heavy-duty, UV-stabilized plastic mesh that’s far stronger than bird netting but much cheaper and easier to install than a traditional wire or wood fence.

This is not a casual, temporary solution. It requires sturdy posts—metal T-posts or 4×4 wood posts—set every 8 to 10 feet. The fence needs to be at least 7.5 feet tall to prevent deer from jumping it, and it must be pulled taut to be effective. A sagging deer fence is an invitation for trouble. The black color helps it blend into the landscape, making it less obtrusive than other fence types.

The biggest mistake people make is underestimating the installation. This is a weekend project, not a 30-minute task. You have to clear the fence line, drive the posts, and stretch the material properly. But once it’s up, it provides reliable protection season after season against one of the most destructive garden pests.

De-Bird Garden Netting: A Versatile All-Rounder

If you can only buy one roll of netting, something like De-Bird’s heavier-duty netting is a solid choice. It occupies a middle ground between the super-lightweight, tangle-prone budget options and more specialized products. It typically features a durable, woven polypropylene that resists tearing and is marketed as being "tangle-free."

While no netting is truly tangle-free, this kind is certainly less prone to snagging than the cheaper extruded plastic types. Its durability makes it a good investment that can last several seasons if stored properly. It works well for draping over fruit trees, building frames for berry bushes, or even laying over newly seeded beds to stop birds from eating the seeds.

This is your go-to for general bird problems. It’s strong enough to not tear when you’re pulling it over a small tree but light enough that it won’t damage delicate branches. Just remember its limitations: the mesh is too large to stop insects, and it offers no defense against raccoons or deer.

Dalen’s Gardeneer Planket for Pest & Frost Cover

Sometimes your problem is more than just one pest. A "Planket" or similar floating row cover is a multi-purpose tool that protects against insects, birds, harsh sun, and even light frost. It’s a non-woven, white fabric that is ultra-lightweight, allowing you to lay it directly on top of many plants without a frame.

This is the perfect solution for early spring greens like lettuce and spinach. It provides a bit of warmth to speed up germination and growth while completely shielding tender seedlings from flea beetles, leaf miners, and birds. You can secure the edges with soil or rocks, and water goes right through it.

The primary tradeoff is light transmission. It blocks a percentage of sunlight (typically 10-30%), which is fine for cool-weather leafy greens but not ideal for sun-loving, fruit-bearing plants like tomatoes or peppers long-term. Think of it as a temporary shield for the most vulnerable stages of a plant’s life or as a season-long cover for shade-tolerant crops.

Feitore 3/4-Inch Mesh Netting for Fruit Trees

Protecting a whole fruit tree is a different challenge than covering a berry bush. You need a large sheet of netting that can envelop the entire canopy. Products like Feitore’s netting are sold in big dimensions (e.g., 25′ x 50′) specifically for this task. The 3/4-inch mesh is the sweet spot—it stops birds effectively without adding excessive weight that could damage branches.

Application is everything. The best method for a small-to-medium tree is to get a helper. Each person takes two corners and you "parachute" it over the top of the tree on a calm day. Gently work it down the sides, then gather the netting around the trunk and secure it with twine. This prevents birds from finding their way in from below.

Don’t just throw it on and walk away. A poorly applied net can damage new growth and make harvesting a nightmare. For dwarf trees, building a simple cube-shaped frame out of PVC or wood around the tree before netting makes access infinitely easier and keeps the net from ever touching the fruit.

Jobe’s Easy Gardener Netting for Larger Plots

When you move from a few bushes to long rows or multiple raised beds, buying small packages of netting becomes inefficient. Jobe’s and other brands sell netting in long, narrow rolls (e.g., 7′ x 100′ or 14′ x 75′). This format is designed for creating long, protected tunnels or covering large, contiguous garden plots.

This is the most economical way to protect a long row of strawberries or a large patch of bush beans. The 7-foot width is perfect for bending over PVC or wire hoops to create a walk-in or reach-in tunnel. You can cover a 50-foot row in a single pass instead of trying to piece together smaller nets.

The absolute rule for using netting on this scale is that you must use a support structure. Draping a 100-foot length of netting directly onto plants will create an impossible, tangled mess that smothers plants and makes harvesting impossible. Hoops are not optional; they are essential for making this type of netting work effectively.

Ultimately, protecting your harvest isn’t about finding one magic net, but about building a small toolkit of defenses. By matching the right type of netting to the specific pest and plant, you move from being a victim of circumstance to the active protector of your garden. A small investment in the right barrier ensures that you are the one who gets to enjoy the food you worked so hard to grow.