There follows a list of questions we have been asked

 and their answers.

You are welcome to email us with your questions on any of our products at gardenerskitchen@btconnect.com We will answer by email and put your Q & A below.

Courgette                     Q. why do my fruit rot off before harvestable?

A.      They are being kept too dry or the weather is too cold.

Q. What is the best time to pick courgettes, should I wait for the flower to drop off?

A. About 12 – 16cm. It doesn’t matter about the flowers but if they are still fresh you can dip them in batter and deep fry them, you can also use the male flowers the same way.

French bean                Q.  Are these French Beans Dwarf?

A.      ‘Safari’ & ‘Atlanta’ are yes.

Runner Beans              Q. The plant has produced flowers but no Beans?

A.      Inside the flower you will probably find a small Beetle, this will have eaten the Bean as it starts to grow – therefore no Beans! Dry weather can also be a problem as the flowers will drop off and again you will get no beans, also in extreme heat.

Peppers                       Q.  A few weeks after planting my Peppers, the leaves started to turn yellow?                 

A.      The roots have been too cold, probably as a result of being planted too early for the conditions available (not enough heat).  Growing early in a grow bag is better than in the soil.

Q. I have black and brown patches on the fruit?

A. Peppers can also have blossom end rot just like tomatoes, more uniform watering is needed, but is difficult in extreme heat.

Sweetcorn                   Q.  Why has my Minipop sweetcorn  gone hard and is inedible.

A.      As you e-mailed me in October I am assuming you have just harvested, if so, it is really too late, harvest the sweetcorn  when the feathery strands have come out and turned pink, usually about one week after the strands have appeared, this can be as early as the end of July

Tomato                        Q.  Why has my Tomato grown 8 feet tall without any fruit?

A.      Because the plants have been fed before any fruit had set, making the plant abort it’s flowers. You must wait until the fruit has set and are swelling before feeding.

Q. Why has my Tomato plant reached 3 feet tall and the leaves have gone twisted and a silvery colour and there is no more fruit setting.

A. The silver colour is called ‘Silvering’, the  problem is very prevalent in old varieties e.g. ‘Moneymaker’, ‘Alicante’, ‘Shirley’, ‘Gardeners Delight’, etc.  To overcome these problems you need to buy a modern F1 variety.

Q. Why has the top leaves of my tomato plant gone mottled and has stopped growing?

A. You have T.M.V. (Tobacco Mosaic Virus) once again it mainly happens in older varieties, use a modern F1 like Ferrari or Choice in you want a vine ripen or long lasting fruit.

Q. The leaves at the top of my tomato plant have curled under into a tight ball.

A. This is usually caused by over feeding.

Q. My tomato plants have are going yellow and are wilting, I am giving them plenty of water.

A. It sounds like over watering, this will make the root ends go brown and not pick up water, and can appear as if they are under watered.

Q. The flowers on my Tomato plants keep dropping off, I think it could be too hot so I have put some shading on the greenhouse but it is still happening.

A. Yes it is too hot (July 2006) the shading will not help, the danger is having too little light relative to the intense heat, and stretching the plants, removing some pains of glass should improve things, also providing there is pollen in the flowers, touching the truss with the back of an electric tooth brush can help, also swilling down the plants with water to shake the plants can help.

Q.  Why does my Tomato fruit go black at the bottom?

A.  This is called ‘Blossom end rot’ and is caused by un-even watering. Modern F1 varieties are less susceptible.

Q.  The fruit on my Tomato plant looks perfectly healthy but! the Tomatoes are strange shapes and have pieces (some like small Tomatoes) growing out of them?

A.  Poor weather conditions can and do cause poor setting of the fruit, especially with older varieties.  The solution other than better weather is to change to a more up to date modern variety, which has been bred to overcome this effect.

Other Questions           Q. Do we sell by mail order?

A. We tried it but it wasn’t very successful.

Q. When will Gardeners Kitchen Vegetables be available  

A. We start supplying Garden Centres mid March and the full range is available by early April, except Purple Sprouting, Sweet corn, etc. as it is too early. We can only offer the vegetables to Garden Centres, they will start stocking when they feel enough people will buy them, so get on the phone, tell them what you would like to buy, and  they should get them in for you.

Q. I have been into two Garden Centres on your list and neither one has your plants or intend to stock your plants, why?

A. Garden Centre Managers or Plant area Managers, fall into two categories when it comes to Veg, either they love it or hate it, believing it will not sell. With the two centres you visited, the managers had changed unfortunately to ones that didn’t like Veg, but thanks again for letting us know, as we can usually point you towards a Garden Centre who we know is stocking what you want.

Q.  I was so impressed by some of your varieties that I tried to buy the seed but I can’t find them in any of the seed catalogues.

A.  Many of the varieties we grow are top commercial varieties and not available to the hobby gardener. This was the main reason for starting to grow for you, because we were horrified at the poor varieties that was on offer, but the commercial seed companies don’t seem to want to supply your sector of the market.

You are welcome to email us with your questions on any of our products at gardenerskitchen@btconnect.com  I will e-mail you back and your question and answer will appear in this section at a later date

Gardeners Kitchen Ltd
Anchor Lane, Evesham, Worcestershire. WR11 8PA
England