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beccabunga · 13-05-2008, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert \(Plymouth\)[_168_]

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Adam writes:
|
| I have some broad beans in my garden at the moment that seem to be
| growing healthily enough, but they are covered in black aphids and
ants.
| Should I be worried about this? If it's a problem, what can I do
about
| it, given that I am doing my very best to garden organically?

Spray the aphids with soft soap or detergent and methylated spirits,
and the ants will go elsewhere - they are merely collecting honeydew.
The aphids can damage the crop.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Or go around and squidge the blackfly between your fingers

I was taught that you should pinch out the tops of the broad beans when there were four/five sets of flowers, and that prevented the blackfly from settling. We always had the tops cooked as a vegetable.