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Permalink Reply by pete on December 7, 2008 at 19:16

Is the video still here anywhere? We had rudbeckias on the allotment this year, in a bed next to the one with runner beans. This particular rudbeckia is rampant, 3-4ft with a smooth leaf and very pretty, useful for any of our customers with the room for it - in a bed on its own. A couple of years back we grew sweet peas next to the beans but what we always try to do is grow the yellow tagettes around the bed edges, these bring in hover flies that eat up any aphids and after two or three seasons you might get swarms of them (if no one is using sprays near by) they're very inoffensive but I don't think they pollinate beans. Last year we had wasps in one of our compost bins, we tried to wash 'em out, we wanted the compost, but they weren't budging, and I've never been stung, so they stayed, that year the broad beans were next to the compost bins, so the black aphids were taken care of!.

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Permalink Reply by Mark on December 7, 2008 at 21:34

If you live near the coast use seaweed around tender plants to keep slugs & snails away, then when you replace it the old stuff will make great compost..

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