veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

bizliz27

Hi all, I was wondering if someone could help with dwarf french beans? I don't know when the harvest them. I picked a few off and the in-laws said I had done it too early as it was a bit tough to "pop" open the pod...I didn't think french beans openedd like that and maybe they were thinking of sugar snap peas?

I confess I am a little confused when I am supposed to harvest them....

any ideas any one?

thank you
bizliz27

Lotus-eater

bizliz27 wrote: »

Hi all, I was wondering if someone could help with dwarf french beans? I don't know when the harvest them. I picked a few off and the in-laws said I had done it too early as it was a bit tough to "pop" open the pod...I didn't think french beans openedd like that and maybe they were thinking of sugar snap peas?

I confess I am a little confused when I am supposed to harvest them....

any ideas any one?

thank you
bizliz27

You eat and harvest dwarf french beans the same as climbing ones. Pick the whole pod when it is a good size, but hopefully before the beans inside start to swell too much.
Then you cut the ends off and boil or steam for 8 minutes ish.

They're thinking about using beans as "green beans" which means you wait till the beans swell up big, then take them from the pods and cook and eat only the beans inside the pod.

Then you can also dry them to use throughout the winter.

But really, you just want to do the first one, eat the whole thing and ignore your in-laws

elsien

Following on from my previous post about what's eating my salad leaves, according to Saturdays paper it's flea beetles.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for how to deal with the little darlings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/24/alys-fowler-versailles-flea-beetles

lovelife_3

Not posted for a while as quite frankly i have been too busy in the garden, it's a big job keeping everything happy and well watered!! what a learning curve since april when i first started with my bags of seeds and how miraculous it is when it works lol! Top crop for me has been courgettes, i have four plants and am able to harvest about six every other day. Kids are loving the courgette bake i make and ask for it every day! a great way to get them to eat fresh veg. Tomatoes are all getting there! about three trusses on each plant. As an experiment i put a number of the weaker plants directly in the garden, rather than the Morrisons buckets i have been growing them in. They are now the strongest plants with lovely green foliage and are bigger and stronger than the pot ones!! It's all trial and error i suppose. My single strawberry plant has been wonderful but only one ripe strawberry at a time! so yesterday i potted up 12 plants that i got free from the Gardening world website, you just pay p and p but i had a voucher that covered this. My parsley has gone wild so am cropping daily and adding to whatever i am cooking. Love, love,loving this whole experience and really enjoying this forum, thanks to all who post :T

pinkpig08

Well I'm starting to see early results from my late sowings. The pease are about 10cm tall and steadily making their way up the canes. 1st lot of lettuce is coming along nicely, 2nd and 3rd lots following suit. The dwarf french beans I planted just over a week ago have pushed through the surface and have a couple of leaves on each. My turnip seedlings are starting to appear, as are the radishes. Just waiting for the carrots and spring onions to make an appearance. And I am losing hope of having tomatoes on my tumbling toms! Have had a fair few flowers, still some to come but no tomatoes yet

katholicos

pinkpig08 wrote: »

Well I'm starting to see early results from my late sowings. The pease are about 10cm tall and steadily making their way up the canes. 1st lot of lettuce is coming along nicely, 2nd and 3rd lots following suit. The dwarf french beans I planted just over a week ago have pushed through the surface and have a couple of leaves on each. My turnip seedlings are starting to appear, as are the radishes. Just waiting for the carrots and spring onions to make an appearance. And I am losing hope of having tomatoes on my tumbling toms! Have had a fair few flowers, still some to come but no tomatoes yet

You are doing well!

About your toms, some of mine are only just getting toms on...we haven't had any consistent sunshine here for a while though so maybe that has something to do with it.

pinkpig08

I love going round the garden when my LO is in bed in the evening. I went to Focus yesterday and had a look round the bargain plants section. I got a purple bee lavender for £1, there were no flowers on it but I can see some buds so have put it in the front border, given it a good water and hope for the best! I also got a hosta for £2. The leaves are a bit narrow and there are no flowers on it, but I have a lovely hosta in the back garden which I planted last year and has lovely foliage - but no flowers. So again I've put it in the front border and given it a good water. Hopfeully it will come fuller next year.

My FIL has given me a climbing rose but I'm not sure where to put it. It's currently in a pot, but I don't like the thought of the children running around the garden and getting prickled. My garden is flat and the borders aren't very deep. Hmm, maybe it could go in the last gap in the front border, we park the cars on there so they don't really play on it. He's also given me a climbing bush kind of thing, I'm not sure what it's called but it's quite firm and will have a load of red berries on soon. That too is in a pot and I'm wondering whether to plant it out and have it climbing the fence. Ha, thinking out loud now!

bizliz27

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You eat and harvest dwarf french beans the same as climbing ones. Pick the whole pod when it is a good size, but hopefully before the beans inside start to swell too much.
Then you cut the ends off and boil or steam for 8 minutes ish.

They're thinking about using beans as "green beans" which means you wait till the beans swell up big, then take them from the pods and cook and eat only the beans inside the pod.

Then you can also dry them to use throughout the winter.

But really, you just want to do the first one, eat the whole thing and ignore your in-laws

This literally just made me laugh out loud
thanks for your help!!

janibrown

Its gone very quiet on here off late, everyone must be either busy in garden or on their holidays hope everyones fruit and veg is ok, I am still praying for some sunshine as its rained here for weeks now

pinkpig08

I planted out my dwarf beans yesterday, a few carrot seedlings are appearing - not much else to report really! I love going out into the garden when C is asleep, DH said yesterday how nice it looked and what a good job I'd done I went to town yesterday and got some courgette seeds half price in Wilkos. I told DS he could pick some vegetable seeds to grow so he's picked pumpkins! So for next year so far I have:

carrots
turnips
onions
brussel sprouts
cucumber
lettuce
tomatoes
peas
french beans
radishes

I think that will be enough to be going on with!