Hi all

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.

Phil

TheScullster writes

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"?

You could aid pollination by taking a male flower (no courgette behind
it) and inserting it into the female flower. Shouldn't need to, though.
Possibly air is too dry?

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.

Seed compost has very little in the way of food in it (seedlings don't
need much).


--
Kay

"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi all

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).

See he http://tinyurl.com/2qrslu

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?

Its all he http://tinyurl.com/32tv5w

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"?

Hopefully this site will help: http://tinyurl.com/3d7vrl


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.

If possible study the makeup of the compost in the growbag and then try
and replicate it for the tomatoes which you plant in open ground. Or
follow this advice: http://tinyurl.com/27mw9u

Regards,
Emrys Davies.


Any comments/suggestions appreciated.

Phil

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

"Bob Hobden" wrote
snip....................

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.


Thanks Bob and others for informative response.

Bob, what are the signs of blight?
I have noticed that some leaves on my toms look brown (maybe wind burnt?)
around the edges.
These are the ones in grow bags so I think it unlikely that they will have
suffered too much from water logged roots (if that is the cause of blight).
The leaves have also gone a bit leathery-looking.
But I have a few promising looking tresses (sp) of toms.
My location is on top of a hill, though surounded by housing, so it does get
a bit windy even in the more sheltered corner I use for veg.

Phil

In article , says...

"Bob Hobden" wrote
snip....................

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.


Thanks Bob and others for informative response.

Bob, what are the signs of blight?
I have noticed that some leaves on my toms look brown (maybe wind burnt?)
around the edges.
These are the ones in grow bags so I think it unlikely that they will have
suffered too much from water logged roots (if that is the cause of blight).
The leaves have also gone a bit leathery-looking.
But I have a few promising looking tresses (sp) of toms.
My location is on top of a hill, though surounded by housing, so it does get
a bit windy even in the more sheltered corner I use for veg.

Phil

Late blight ( the bad one) causes big brown blotches all over the leaves and
stems and tomatoes which may addtionally get whitish fur. Early blight (not so bad)
gives yellowish patches with brown in them. If you are not sure, try google images
search tomato blight and you will get some pictures to compare.

Gill M
m

"Gill Matthews" wrote after "Phil" replied to
"Bob Hobden" who wrote
snip....................

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.


Thanks Bob and others for informative response.

Bob, what are the signs of blight?
I have noticed that some leaves on my toms look brown (maybe wind burnt?)
around the edges.
These are the ones in grow bags so I think it unlikely that they will
have
suffered too much from water logged roots (if that is the cause of
blight).
The leaves have also gone a bit leathery-looking.
But I have a few promising looking tresses (sp) of toms.
My location is on top of a hill, though surounded by housing, so it does
get
a bit windy even in the more sheltered corner I use for veg.

Late blight ( the bad one) causes big brown blotches all over the leaves
and
stems and tomatoes which may addtionally get whitish fur. Early blight
(not so bad)
gives yellowish patches with brown in them. If you are not sure, try
google images
search tomato blight and you will get some pictures to compare.

Late Blight (commonly just called Blight) needs wet/damp leaves to get a
hold on the plants , it is rain born and the only thing you can do is to try
to prevent it by spraying all parts of the plant with Bordeaux Mixture
(Copper sulphate and Lime) and re-spraying if it's washed off by the rain.
Once the plant has the disease it's too late and you need to pull it up and
destroy it, any set tomatoes will only rot. Usually the plant gets Dark
Brown/ Black patches on leaves and stems which spread all over the plant
including any fruit and the whole plant simply collapses. Also affects
potatoes as they are the same family (think of the Irish Potato Famine) and
the spuds rot in the ground if you don't dig them up quickly.
There are resistant varieties like "Ferline" tomatoes (I'm told there are
others too, anyone?), and all Sarpo varieties of potatoes.

Our Ferline toms are the only ones not to have got blight already this year
which proves something.

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