Do I need to protect my raised veg beds?

joeyvicks

Hi folks,
I'm new to the veg growing malarkey and have built these two raised beds;
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There's some greenery showing which I'm absolutely loving! My worry is now that pests will come along and munch it all! Do I need to build myself some sort of protection frame or will I be ok leaving it?

wallbash

You just posted that picture to make some of us jealous!

Our biggest problem this year will be slugs and snails,so you have to work out how 'green' you want to be.

Personally I go for everything , slug pellets/ copper tape etc
If I grow it , don't want to share it.

wellused

As wallbash said slugs are your worst enemy, you seem to have a lot of onions which can fall foul to onion fly so a fleece cover might be in order, the biggest advice that I would give you is now that you have done such a good job of building the beds and raising the plants you should have a good look at them each day just to check for signs of damage as you can often nip problems in the bud before they get out of hand if you spot them early enough.

wallbash

Taking another look at picture, have you sown too much at once??
With a limited area ( I have about the same amount of space in my raised bed) I have to be very strict on sowing, otherwise my lettuce , even the cut/come again all mature at the same time.

Work out the sun's path, you could get a few runner beans at the back, even a climbing cue cumber, crystal apple, limited ground space,also check out a climbing courgette.

BUT don't post pictures

joeyvicks

Thanks for the help so far.

Would you recommend going to this length?

http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/7193/raised-bed-pest-cover

closetouch

I use a system just like that and find it very effective at keeping things like carrot fly, cabbage whites etc. from attacking my veg. I also use debris netting to cover them, the enviromesh shown in the picture gets expensive when you have a dozen beds.

joeyvicks

Thanks closetouch.

My only problem is that at the ends of the beds I'm growing tomatoes and beans/peas once they're ready to plant out...

If I make one of these covers will I have to make the whole thing as high as the supporting canes or is there something I can do?

closetouch

My tomatoes are grown in builders buckets and are never in the beds, beans are started in loo roll inners and go from house to cold frame to bed and are not netted. I grow mainly dwarf type peas which are sown direct into their bed and only protected in the early stages. My largest frame is for Brussels Sprouts, is 48" high and secured with string and tent peg to stop it blowing over.

djohn2002uk

wallbash wrote: »

BUT don't post pictures

Can I ask why?. A picture paints a thousand words and all that.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Yes you do need some fine mesh on small crops; especially brassicas and carrots...and I'd recommend growing bush tomatoes as they stay small and will sit nicely under your cane height. It looks like you have used the square foot method almost, so check the spacings recommended in each square foot for maximum yield; if you put things too close together both in terms of space and time, you will get gluts [as in the lettuce mentioned earlier] or weak plants as they eat into each other's nutrients.

You rarely get NO pest damage so perhaps have a cold frame with extra seedlings so that you can infill if things get munched.

wallbash

djohn2002uk wrote: »

Can I ask why?. A picture paints a thousand words and all that.

As I said in the my first post...........

You just posted that picture to make some of us jealous!