Carrots, broad beans, french beans and garlic...

[seevs]

I'm in my second year of proper growing (after only realling doing tomatoes and potatoes last year) and have some questions on the following if anyone can advise.

Carrots - have been growing the baby round carrots in tubs. I've planted two tubs, one a couple of weeks after the other. The first I probably planted to densely but seems to have done pretty well and has produced a reasonable crop, the second tub has more voigorous foliage but the carrots are a lot smaller and less formed. They are both in the same position...any thoughts as to why this has happened. I don't think its due to the delay in planting between the two as it was only a couple oof weeks.

Broad beans - are covered in little black things which i think are eggs at the top of each shoot (about a metre high). I'm pretty sure its blackfly. Only thing i've been recommended is to spray with soapy water and take off by hand. Any other advice pls?

French beans - haven't grown that high (only a foot and a half) in comparison with broad beans (3-4 feet). They've started producing french beans already, but obviously as they haven't grown that high aren't going to be able to produce that much. Any thoughts as to why they might not have grown that much. I had more problems (than the broad beans) germinating them as well, even though conditions were broadly similar.

Garlic - Planted in November and leaves/stems grown very well throughout spring, but when I look at any of them there is no bulb or signs of a bulb growing at all....any thoughts why?

All advice greatly appreciated.

[alan refail]

Hi Seevs

I'll try a few answers.

Broad beans. What's in the tops is almost certainly blackfly. The bet way to control is to take out the growing top of the plant and destroy. Don't worry broad beans will respond to this by producing more shoots from lower down.

French beans. That's how high dwarf varieties grow, so yours are doing fine and will crop well.

Garlic. Leave them till the tops yellow and then check.

[hilary]

Hi Seevs,
My advice is the same re the black fly just take off the tops and destroy. I do this as the norm each year whether black fly is present or not and cook like cabbage!
Hilary

[FelixLeiter]

Carrots - have been growing the baby round carrots in tubs. I've planted two tubs, one a couple of weeks after the other. The first I probably planted to densely but seems to have done pretty well and has produced a reasonable crop, the second tub has more voigorous foliage but the carrots are a lot smaller and less formed. They are both in the same position...any thoughts as to why this has happened. I don't think its due to the delay in planting between the two as it was only a couple oof weeks.

Are they both the same variety? You might just need to give the second sowing a bit longer. Be sure to keep on top of the watering, and make sure the water's really penetrating, not just wetting the top of the compost.

Broad beans - are covered in little black things which i think are eggs at the top of each shoot (about a metre high). I'm pretty sure its blackfly.

Not eggs. You'll find they have legs, heads and antennae. These are the adult blackfly. If they get really bad, you can wash them off with soapy water, which drowns most of them, but there are some good insecticides specific to blackfly. Pinching out the tops helps, too, as it encourages the crop to mature and takes off the succulent shoot tips which the blackfly favour.

French beans - haven't grown that high (only a foot and a half) in comparison with broad beans (3-4 feet). They've started producing french beans already, but obviously as they haven't grown that high aren't going to be able to produce that much. Any thoughts as to why they might not have grown that much. I had more problems (than the broad beans) germinating them as well, even though conditions were broadly similar.

French beans are often called Dwarf French beans: they're naturally smaller. Botanically they're only distantly related to broad beans, from tropical South America where they're used to more warmth than they get in Britain most springs, hence your poorer germination and weaker seedlings in similar conditions. Those conditions do not suit both.

Garlic - Planted in November and leaves/stems grown very well throughout spring, but when I look at any of them there is no bulb or signs of a bulb growing at all....any thoughts why?

It's probably simply not matured yet. You say you've looked at them — have you dug one up to see?

[seevs]

to FelixLeiter
Yes the carrots are same variety...I will leave them and see how they get on. And re garlic, yes I did dig one up, there were roots but no bulb. Given they seem to be doing so well (at least the stems) I'll leave them until they start dying off.

Txs all for the advice.

[hilary]

Hi Seevs
Re your carrots - did you use the same compost in both tubs? Since if the second had more nitrogen you would get more leafy growth at the expense of roots. Different fertilisers for different jobs - ie higher postash as found in tomato and comfrey feed to give more fruit and using manure which is high in nitrogen for leafy growth.
Perhaps someone else is more up on the technical info than me.
Hilary