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Old 30-07-2007, 11:25 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Bob Hobden Bob Hobden is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
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Default Newbie Veg Questions

Phil wrote
A few basic questions from a relative newbie if I may:

Should "Tender Green" French beans need supporting?
Should the above produce curly or straight(ish) beans (mine are distinctly
curly).
How do you tell when onions are "ready". I have a dozen or so that have
filled out to a decent size, but should the tops die off/flower/seed or
whatever before harvesting?
A few small courgettes have formed behind flowers, but then disappeared.
Are they being snaffled by some local sneak thief or is there something
that needs to be done to make these "set"?
Why do tomatoes do so much better in grow bags? I have planted some in
open ground, but with at least a 50% local addition of seed compost. So I
was expecting a similar result to the grow bags - but no, much slower and
less convincing foliar growth.

Any comments/suggestions appreciated.

Tendergreen is a Dwarf French Bean and therefore does not need support.
Whilst the beans are always shown straight they are invariably curved, some
more than others, doesn't change the taste though.

When onions are ready to pull their tops start to die back, we have got all
ours up and drying out on wire mesh shelves in the last couple of days. They
will then need cleaning up before being hung up in netting onion sacks.
Onions that grow flower stalks are not much good, use for a salad or
something, don't bother storing them.

Sounds like your Courgette flowers are not being fertilized, usually happens
to the first few but not after then when the male flowers (the ones without
the embryonic courgette) are in abundance. Try hand pollinating.

Having never grown Toms in grow bags I can't answer that except that they
are usually placed in a sheltered warm spot unlike the open garden. We
always grow ours out on the allotment in normal soil and have late but have
excellent crops usually, this year due to the constant rain only one variety
has not succumbed to Blight.


--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK