Novice needs advice

[Hammer]

First off Hello to you all, i am new to vegetablen growing but i am enjoying it much more than i could have imagined. I put in three raised bed with railway sleepers, about 9ft X 9ft each. In one i have planted three different types of seed potato in mid-april, they are all looking good - about 10 inches high with no bugs or anything attacking the leaves - i have earthed them up and to my untrained eye they look good, i brought in new soil for the entire garden from a farmers Barley field as i had bad drainage and very heavy soil, the drainage i sortde with 350 feet of French Drains with the water being piped away.
The second bed has Cabbages, Brussels ,Dwarf French Beans from seedlings all of which i have put collars on - they all look ok although something is having a nibble at the Brussels but not the others ?
The third bed has Carrots, Parsnips and Onions all from seed, put in mid to late April, the carrotts and Parsnips are starting to show but not much from the Onions yet. My Question is this - i did not cover any of these and i think i should have ? Can i cover them now or could the root fly have visited already,
i cant see any but would,nt really know what to look for, any advise would be gretly appreciated, Regards Hammer

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Hammer and welcome! Can you post a photo please of the damage to the sprout leaves?? Don't worry about the onions as you have sown them a bit on the late side but they will grow! As for the carrot fly - you could cover the bed with Enviromesh if you are worried to be on the safe side. The smell of the carrots attracts them so weed the bed on a dry evening with no wind. Good luck!

[Hammer]

Lesley Jay, thanks for your prompt reply, i must learn how to post photos as i,ve never done it before. When i figure it out i will post photo.
Thanks again.
Regards - Hammer

[ChoccyCarole]

Hi
WOW Hammer your new garden sounds brilliant~ and you have put lots of effort and good hard work into it
Can't answer your question ~but can't wait to hear more about it ~and to see photos of all your garden and planting

[Hammer]

Hi ChoccyCarole, Yes, you are spot on, an enormous amount of work has gone into the garden but it was a case of all or nothing as it was very wet and boggy. It was becoming painful to look out the window at it, but i,d given up work as i was planning on selling up and moving to Italy to live. Then house prices collapsed as our economy went into meltdown, add to that my Mother developed Dementia and is heading in to Alzheimers so she was unable to live alone, i live near the sea in Southern Ireland so i,m making the most of things while i,m still living here and at least i have the time to do the work, which is largely very enjoyble. I,ll post photos when i find out how to do that.
Thanks for your reply, Regards Hammer

[Lesley Jay]

Oh, Hammer it does sound as if you are living in a very beautiful place in Southern Ireland. I find the sea rejuvenating and quite amazing which is why we are selling up and moving to the coast. I'm so sorry to hear that your Mother has developed Dementia - it must be an awful thing to happen.

Where posting photo's on the forum are concerned, if you have your photo's stored on your PC then it is really simple to post them as clickable thumbnail photo's! To do that, when you click on Post Reply scroll down the page and click on Manage Attachments. Click on 'Browse' which opens the files on your PC. Then click on the file containing your photo's, click on open, then click on your photo file and click on open. Then click on the photo you want and then click on upload. Click on browse again to upload another photo the same way. Then write your post, click on Submit Reply and your thumbnail photo's will appear on your post.

[Hammer]

Lesley Jay, posted photos just now, one shows damage to Brussels. I,m learning new things every day ! Ha. Thank you for your kind reply re; My Mothers Health, it,s difficult of course but she is 89 and has good physical health. However the good news is she made a decision to go and live with her niece, not too far away. She is happy there and it,s what she wants, so we are getting over a very stressfull 18 months which is how long she stayed with us, add to that giving up work (i,m 8 years off retirement), but as i said we were intending to bail out. Things are pretty good now and compared to some people i have no right to complain. Regards Hammer.

[Hammer]

ChoccyCarole, I,ve just posted the photos, no small feat as i had to learn to work the camera first -Hee Hee for someone with a Degree who spent 12 yrs in Management and 25 in Engineering i,m a bit of a Technophobe (i can,t even work the DVD Player but i,m good with Computers. Best Regards, Hammer