Kitchen Garden Forum

I queried slugs getting into my covered raised bed earlier and am now dealing with that, thank you all.But, I'm not sure I've got the whole thing quite right, hope someone can help.
I decided this year to cover one of my beds to keep out the butterflies & carrot flies. OH built a wooden frame round it. I bought some fine netting which said it was exactly the thing I needed. It wasn't quite the right size so I had to cut it in half & overlap it in the middle. It is secured by drawing pins into the wooden frame & bricks around the bottom. The plants that are in it are much further on than others around the garden, so I guess they are a bit warmer, but it sometimes gets loads of flies in. They are like house flies and sit on the under side of the top. They're not damaging anything but its not pleasant! I guess they're getting in somewhere then can't get out.Can someone let me know what they do. Is it best to just cover individual plants to keep the cabbage whites off? If so, how do you secure the netting/fleece? Sorry about such a long query.

They sound like fruit flies, they often breed in compost heaps, so it pays to keep the heap covered. prevention is easier than cure

Thank you Natures Babe. I did top up the bed with my compost last autumn.
I'm still not sure whether covering the whole bed is the right way to go. Its also a bit of a fiddle getting in to do anything in it.

Do you think anything can get in through the overlap? I've used the sewing machine and stitched pieces of enviromesh together when pieces weren't wide enough and this has worked to make a good join. You can also get a good fit by leaving a bit of an overlap and stapling the edges on two sides of the bottom to the wood, but leaving the other sides free and just weighted down so you can get at the plants in the bed.

I was thinking mainly of excluding the carrot flies which are very small and seem to manage to find their way in through any gaps if they can.

If the flies already in there are as large as house flies, they won't be fruit flies as they are quite small. It is possible that they have hatched out from the soil though. You ought to make sure they get out as soon as possible as they may lay their eggs in there and cause a problem eg cabbage root flies.

Hopefully they are harmless. If you can rake the soil about between the plants it should get rid of any larvae lurking in there. I shouldn't worry about them, just keep an eye on the plants just in case.

Thank you PP.
They are house fly size & aren't eating anything. I keep lifting the sides to get them all out. I wil have to tighten the join a bit better.
Its the first year I've covered the bed but last year had loads of carrot fly problems & caterpillars so thought I would give it a go. I'll have to wait until the end of the season & see if it has been worth it.