Allotments 4 All

I’m trying out the idea, from another thread, for using tennis balls with holes drilled in them to help make the joints on the corners of a cheap bamboo fruit cage (its not my fault, I never had enough Lego as a child).

I was really pleased to discover how easy it is to drill holes in tennis balls, so that they are the same width as bamboo canes, but I would love to know how many other people have had a go at this sort of thing and any of the pit falls I have to look out for?

No pitfalls, been doing it for years. I regularly scout around the outer area of the local tennis courts for 'lost' balls. I reckon if the idle rich kids can't be bothered to go round picking 'em up....well, they'll simply loose their balls, won't they?

Woohoo !  I posted that tip !  If you get yourself a dog they collect them for you.

There's a tennis club just by my site; you can pick balls up on the way down the lane.

That's a great idea, those little plastic connector things you can buy are expensive. Will be on the look out for lost tennis balls now. :)

Thanks for the idea Baggy, presumably you do something to make sure the bamboo canes can cross over in the middle of the balls. Do you resolve that by offsetting the holes or just by making them larger than the width of the canes?

I was thinking about this for a fruit cage and brassica netting -but thought you might need a solid ball? Do the canes cross over or just butt up?

Jeremy

I had sort of assumed that some would have to cross over (which is why the holes would need to be either offset or quite large) and they would all probably be better off with five rather than six holes drilled in them, so they would always be able to sit on the tops of canes without sliding down.

John H - that is what I do and ram the canes in.