Infestation of whitefly

Hi, I am new to this and this is my first post so I hope I have done it right
I have moved to Norfolk and this is my first year gardening here.
I have a large open empty plot backing onto arable fields.
I have cultivated a bit of land to grow veg. I have grown annuals such as calendula, cosmos and sweet pea to attract polinators as I have noticed hardly any pollinating insects in my garden. I find this strange as I have a native hedge as a border and my neighbour has a wild area of grass, nettles, oxeye daisies and ivy.Other neighbours only have shrubs, hedges and trees, no perennials or flowers which in the past I have grown a lot of. I have had really bad infestation of flea beetle, not managed to grow a radish yet so have resorted to veggie mesh. Now all the lettuce are infested with white fly, green fly and ants, beetroot is covered in blackfly , even the annual flowers grown to attract the insects are infested with them. No hoverflies or pollinators though. Is this usual for this area of the country, I have gardened in Wales and there I had loads of bees, butterflies and thought this was normal. I am wondering if the spraying the farmers do in the fields around me ae not helping.
Is there anyone on this forum who is in rural Norfolk or Suffolk and can give me some advice on managing the pests without resorting to spraying
Thank you

 

A weak water soap solution worked on my roses and may work on your plants but be careful of the ratio. Garlic spray also helps but does not kill the beasties only stops them munching your veg. or you could plant nasturtiums between veg as it acts as a sacrificial plant for black fly etc. Chemical spraying might be the only solution to save this years crops.

 

Shouldn't say this but I've not seen white fly in more than 10 yrs, it used to be a big problem in my greenhouse but not sure why they have disappeared.

 

Thank you will give the soap solution a go on the lettuce

 

I dont do anything like that, they just vanished or at least didn't appear one year and not seen any since.

 

Must be the 'climate change'; said to move species northwards .
Kent to Norfolk, its not far !

 

I'm sure Norfolk had their share of white fly years ago, and probably France still has some.

 

Flea beetle is a major problem due to rape seed production in East Anglia. Aphids are a major problem on sugarbeet grown widely in that area.
Best bet is for the next couple of years rely on mechanical protection, you have probably noticed that a lot of fields of carrots are covered in fleece or slit polythene film.
Garden organically and pest predator populations will gradually sort themselves out.
White fly have never been a problem outside for me and in the greenhouse red spider mite is more of an issue.
Growing up in East Anglia years ago I can remember regular aerial spraying of pesticides on arable crops, best avoided.