Help a novice.

[Krisztene]

I am a novice at growing your own. My husband takes great delight in the fact that I cannot keep anything alive.

Anyway I have thus far managed tomatoes, courgettes, squash, runner beans, onions and carrots. Not bad for someone who usually manages to kill the kids cress project......dont ask!

Now I have a few questions so here goes:

My runner beans are big but how big should I leave them before picking?

How do I know when to pick carrots and onions?

My jalapeno pepper plant keeps loosing its flowers, I can see the peppers but they just fall off any comments?

My beans have black things on the leaves?

I have been swotting on courgettes and know you can fry the flowers when is it okay to do this and can you do it with the male and female flowers?

Also I have planted a few courgette plants and did not realise they grow so big - duh
Now I have one huge one and the rest are still alive but not grown should I just leave them?


Hope you have some answeres, Krisztene

[gojiberry]

Pick your runner beans sooner rather than later as they will go tough and stringy if you leave them on the plant to long. Also the sooner you pick the quicker the plant gets on with making more. Pick carrots as soon as they are big enough to eat, start by picking every other one which will give the ones left room to grow bigger. It's the same with onions, if you think they are big enough then use them. If you are looking to store them then wait till the tops go brown then lift and dry them either in the sun or in a greenhouse if its wet. Try to put your peppers where the bees can get at it as the flowers may be falling off because they haven't been pollinated. Need a picture of the black things on the beans. Its the male flowers that are used for frying and you put them in a light batter before frying. One big courgette plant may well give you enough courgettes so I would leave them.

Ian

[gojiberry]

Oh! and welcome to the vine Krisztene.

Ian

[valmarg]

Welcome krisztene, I think you will find this a very helpful site.

My replies would be:

Runner beans should be picked when young and tender. If you bend a bean in half, and it snaps cleanly, it is ready. If you have a bean that when bent doesn't snap cleanly, and has stringy bits, it's too old.

Don't grow onions, but carrots, you sort of prod around the carrot tops, and when you see that they are about the size you want, you pull them. We only grow carrots in containers in order to get baby carrots.

Jalapenos. Are you sure they are just dropping their flowers. From experience of growing peppers, they seem to have dropped the flowers, but then all of a sudden the pepper grows from the flower site.

The 'black things' on your beans are black fly. If the infestation is not too severe, squish them. We don't like to spray anything we eat.

Have never managed to get many courgette flowers to stuff, and eat, so can't comment.

With regard to your final point about courgettes. Wait and see is the best advice I can give.

There comes a point when 'its got to go', but until then - wait and see.

Hope this is helpful.

valmarg

[Alice]

Welcome to the Vine Krisztene.
For a beginner it sounds as if you are doing well. You'll get better responses to your questions if you break them up into separate posts. You can go into personal profile and show us where you are in the country - it helps.
But here goes
Don't let your runner beans get too big - they just go coarse and stringy. Keep picking them and they will keep coming.
You can pick your onions any time you like - babies to full size. And on young plants you can eat the green shoots too - snip them up like spring onions.
Carrots likewise - scrape away some soil from the surface and see what size the carrots are. You can pull them as fingerlings or leave them to grow big.
Your Jalapeno - is it the flowers that are falling off or the chillies. It's normal for the flowers to fall off and there should be a little Jalapeno left behind. If the flowers are falling off and there's no chillie behind then move the plant away from direct sun as the flowers are probably frying.
Your beans - are the black things Black Fly. Probably. Cut off the worst affected clumps and burn them. You can spray the rest with water from a hose, water with a little washing up liquid added from a can or an insecticidal spray.
Courgette flowers - yes you can cook them and eat them, male and female, but I reckon by the time the plant is finished with the flowers they're well beyond eating.
Not sure what you mean about your courgette plants. Yes they do get very big. If you have space you could move the ones that are not growing to a better place. Be careful to replant at the same depth or the stems might rot.
Good luck and well done so far.

[Krisztene]

Many thanks for all your speedy replies, it is nice to have praise my husband seems to think we might have enough for one salad!

I will look into my profile and see what I can amend.

I have checked the beans and there are no flys just little black crawly dots?
I best get picking as there are a few which seem to snap.

I think I was being a bit 'green' and waiting for everything to be supermarket size.

I have lots of funny shaped courgettes!

With regard to the peppers the flowers that have fallen off still have the little pepper bit in the middle.

Now being the newbie I am how do I know how big the onions are unless I dig them up?

Thanks again Krisztene, I'm in Kent by the way.

[Florence Fennel]

Many thanks for all your speedy replies, it is nice to have praise my husband seems to think we might have enough for one salad!

I will look into my profile and see what I can amend.

I have checked the beans and there are no flys just little black crawly dots?
I best get picking as there are a few which seem to snap.

I think I was being a bit 'green' and waiting for everything to be supermarket size.

I have lots of funny shaped courgettes!

With regard to the peppers the flowers that have fallen off still have the little pepper bit in the middle.

Now being the newbie I am how do I know how big the onions are unless I dig them up?

Thanks again Krisztene, I'm in Kent by the way.

Hi Krisztene, I can now sound really wise and tell you to "finger" (feel around your onion) this apparently loosens the soil if you want it to grow bigger and will also give you an idea of the size. This is advice from wiser gardeners than me, but it was nice to pass it on. My onions are showing a third above the ground, so it's easy to see how big/small they are. Welcome to the Vine and happy growing. You're doing really well and I am sure you will carry on improving now you've joined us!

[valmarg]

I have checked the beans and there are no flys just little black crawly dots?

I think you may find that those 'little crawly dots' are blackfly, and do need squishing.

valmarg

[Hazel at the Hill]

I am a novice at growing your own. My husband takes great delight in the fact that I cannot keep anything alive.

He sounds like a charmer! I think that you are doing brilliantly - well done.

Welcome to the Vine.

[Krisztene]

Oh I know he is joking, he has seen some things on the table and been impressed.

But it is a long running joke in my family that I love the plants to death......lol

and thanks for the black fly tip but do I really need to squish them that is so gross.

[Florence Fennel]

Oh I know he is joking, he has seen some things on the table and been impressed.

But it is a long running joke in my family that I love the plants to death......lol

and thanks for the black fly tip but do I really need to squish them that is so gross.

Take a brave pill and squish, squish, squish.

[taff]

you can wimp out and wear gloves if you like....

[Alice]

You'll be able to see what size your onions are - they push themselves up above ground.

[Two_Sheds]

thanks for the black fly tip but do I really need to squish them that is so gross.

If you don't, they will breed and breed and breed, and ALL your plants will get covered in them.
Your choice!

[maytreefrannie]

Blackfly - I cut up a garlic clove, leave in water (about 2 litres or whatever) all day, then add a little washing up liquid. I dowse the plants with this - it seems to work on broad beans to dramatically reduce/get rid of blackfly.

I've even just used the washing up liquid on its own and it seems to wash most of them off.

I've also heard just recently about a mixture of washing up liquid in water with a small amount of bicarbonate of soda to get rid of black/greenfly. I haven't tried this one myself.