Together with a friend I have been working on a small home garden plot and have planted pumpkins, corn and runner beans. Since we have no experience of growing vegetables in Switzerland we have been facing a few problems. Firstly we had a problem with ants. We used soap water spray and now it seems under control. What is worrying is that the runner bean plant leaves seem a bit sickly with pale yellow spots and are curling in the corners. Does anyone know what should be done?

Thanks
Tanuja

I can't help you with the sickly plants. My veg patch isn't looking too health either. Some"one" has been eating all my salad!!

But I was curious, did you do the "three sisters" method for your plants?

You're a bit far away, otherwise it could have been Sutter's rats!

Nope didn't do the 'three sisters' method. Just totally keen on keeping it simple and seeing some results. Also, I am quite sure its not the rats

oops, sorry i misunderstood the rats comment

Well, you have the perfect three for the three sisters! We also have a small patch so I couldn't really do corn.

I wonder if it's the weather that is bringing your plants down?

I'm sure one of our resident gardeners will give a clue!

Google can be a gardener's best friend..


growing pumpkins

growing corn

growing runner beans

thank you so much people. will try my luck with google and hope things get better with my veggie patch.

t

Pale yellow spots on runner bean leaves?

That sounds to me like Golden Shower, a hideous fungal disease which, once it has worked its way through your beans, will move on to your pumpkins and corn, then, if there's nothing else to eat, will come into the house and devour everything in your food cupboards and underwear drawers, leaving nasty yellow spores on everything it squirms over.

The only solution is to sprinkle at least a kilo of salt over the affected parts of the garden.

You will lose all your plants, but at least your drawers will be safe.

Alternatively, you could see what the gardening websites on the internet have to say...

Could be 1000 differant things. Nitrogen content, lime content, lack of sun-light hours, etc..... How big is the corn and when was it planted?

Depending on where you are the elevation is often only good for low yielding wheats, barleys, and oats. Mostly forage. If you are in the lower elevations I would say you should have waitied to plant as this has been a very cold spring with not much sun. Germination loves sun. If I was planting corn here in CH I would plant it on a late soybean cycle.

rapeseed looks horrible here in CH but they still grow it. It takes alot of attention and trial and error. Is the corn self pollinating? You will need crossbred corn in order for it to pollinate etc..... Lots of stuff to think about. Cucumbers and tomatoes are normally the best way to start because they are hard to **** up.

Also a well known sexual perversion but unless you've been "doing it" in the garden lately it might just be the fungal thing..

Surely not?!

Sounds like the start of halo blight - if the spot go brown in the middle leaving a lighter area around the edge of the spot (hence halo) then you're stuffed - dig them up and dispose of them (not in the compost).

oh my gosh...this sounds pretty serious. yes, digging it all out is the best option at the moment. the corn is quite alright and is growing steadily and the pumpkins seem ok too. its just the runner beans. the spots stay yellow so it must be this golden shower business. and oh gosh i really hope it doesn't reach my undies that will be utterly disgusting

Corn is the difficult one for home gardeners to grow as it needs lots of room. It needs several rows to pollinate itself other wise you'll end up with empty stalks. If you ever seen a field of corn growing normally the farmer chops out the outer 2 or 3 rows early because those normally end up fruitless anyway.

SOS! Today I've found orange growth on the underside of my roses leaves. I'm sure it's rust. What kind of fungicides can I find here? What would you recommend? Help me, please, it's my favourite rose.

Normally we just use the water from a local algea pond. Its a natural cure..... Try that for a week... With the lack of moisture in this region rust is generally not that bad.

if that doesnt work, you might have to change the plants location.

Your local garden centre will stock fungicide against rust. Also big Coop and Migros stock the spray in their hardware/bricolages sections. It's widely available. Prevention is better than cure. I spray my roses every two weeks to keep the problem at bay.

I just checked my stuff - it's called Anti-Pilz by Gesal. Don't forget to clear off any affected leaves to avoid the disease spreading.

Thanks al lot. I'll try everything. Hope it'l help. I know rust is a thing which is very hard to fight with.