Shade Netting | Shade Cloth | Bird Netting | Insect Mesh

Garden netting is not one product wearing different labels. Shade cloth, insect mesh and windbreak screening are woven differently because they solve different problems, and picking the wrong one is the most common reason a net disappoints. This guide walks through how to match the right netting to the job.

Shade Cloth: Controlling Light and Heat

Shade cloth is rated by the percentage of direct sunlight it blocks, typically from a light 30% up to a heavy 90%. Choosing the right percentage matters: too light and a hot greenhouse keeps overheating, too heavy and light-hungry crops like salad leaves and seedlings end up starved of the light they need to grow well.

As a rough guide, 30-40% suits crops that want strong light with only mild protection from the harshest sun. 55% is a solid middle-ground for general greenhouse and garden use through a UK summer. 80-90% is for shade-loving plants, very hot or exposed spots, or simply making a patio bearable at midday.

Insect Mesh: Keeping Pests Out Without Spraying

Insect mesh is a different animal entirely. Rather than being rated by how much light it blocks, it is woven at a tight, consistent hole size designed to physically exclude flying pests such as carrot fly and cabbage white butterflies, while barely reducing the light reaching your plants. If your problem is pests eating or laying eggs on your crop, shade cloth will not help. You need a fine mesh built for exclusion.

Bird Netting: Protecting Fruit, Veg and Ponds

Bird netting sits between the two: a mesh sized to keep birds, and often cats, away from soft fruit, seedlings or pond fish, while still letting light, rain and most pollinating insects through. Mesh size matters here too. Too loose and birds can get tangled; too fine and you lose airflow. A tightly-woven 15x15mm mesh, pegged securely at every edge, is the safer standard to look for.

Windbreak Screening: Why Permeable Beats Solid

It seems counter-intuitive, but a solid fence is often a worse windbreak than a permeable mesh screen. Wind hitting a solid barrier has nowhere to go but up and over, creating turbulence on the sheltered side that can be worse than the open wind you started with. A woven screen lets some wind pass through while slowing the rest, giving calmer, more even shelter without the strain a solid panel puts on its own fixings.

Getting the Fixing Right

Whichever netting you choose, the fixing points are usually where it fails first. Reinforced grommets let you thread rope, cable ties or bungee cord through without tearing the fabric. Space fixings every 30-40cm, keep tension even, and check ties periodically through the season, especially after any storms.

Getting More Than One Season Out of It

UV-stabilised HDPE is built to withstand a full season outdoors, but taking netting down when it is not needed, letting it dry fully, and storing it out of direct sunlight over winter will noticeably extend how many seasons you get from a single roll or panel.

The Short Version

Match the tool to the job: shade cloth for light and heat control, insect mesh for pest exclusion, bird netting for fruit and ponds, and permeable windbreak screening for wind and privacy. Get the right product and the right size for your plot, fix it well, and it should see you through several growing seasons rather than one.