Some questions from a complete novice

[Nicola_D]

Hi all,

This is my first year of growing vegetables and as we only have a small garden and two young kids I'm growing everything in containers. At first I thought I was just plant some stuff and hope for the best, but now I'm really getting into it and getting worried about some of plants...

Tomatoes

I have six plants all seem quite strong and growing well, loads of green tomatoes of various sizes. All the tomatoes are still green and I've noticed that some of the older/bigger ones seem to be going a darkish green from the top - is this normal or is something wrong? I'm feeding them with tomato feed once a week

Cucumbers

I've already had one cucumber which was yummy, but for a while now my cucumber leaves look like they are suffering, they seem quite dry and rustle a lot and are going yellow then brown around the edges, but they are all growing new leaves and still flowering and there's about 4 new cucumbers growing and loads of tiny ones which I guess may grow too. Do they need any particular nutrients or are they diseased?

Courgette

Again I've had a courgette already and there's another one growing. Firstly, some of the leaves look a bit unhealthy, but they are still growing - I thought they might have powdery mildew it first, but it looks like liquid splashes, could it be if I've splashed the leaves with water with the tomato feed in? Secondly, on the courgette that's currently growing, I accidently knocked the flower off the end of it yesterday - will it continue to grow?

Sorry if these seem like lame questions

Nicola (I've tried to attach some pictures - hope it works)

[lisa4star]

Hi Nicola,

I'm not sure about your tomatoes as I am a 'novice' too, this is only my second year but from my experience with flowers on fruit and veg is it is actually best to take them off as soon as the fruit is showing because otherwise the flower sticks to the fruit and makes it rot. I've especially found this with my aubergines, courgettes and peppers but not so much the cucumbers.

Hope thus helps, sorry I don't know more.

[Nicola_D]

Thanks,

Hopefully my courgette wil continue to grow then, I was worried because my mother-in-law has a massive vegetable garden and showed me a huge courgette they'd harvested and it still had a massive yellow flower attached to the end!

[Nicki85]

Your tomatos are fine. Mine did the same before ripening! I think you will find that you have ripe tomatoes soon enough.

[GardenR]

Originally Posted by Nicola_D

Tomatoes

I have six plants all seem quite strong and growing well, loads of green tomatoes of various sizes. All the tomatoes are still green and I've noticed that some of the older/bigger ones seem to be going a darkish green from the top - is this normal or is something wrong? I'm feeding them with tomato feed once a week

Your tomatoes look like they are just about to turn red. Going a darker green at the top always seems to happen just before the tomato begins to turn. In a few weeks you should certainly be eating a lot of those tomatoes.

[Nicola_D]

Originally Posted by GardenR

Your tomatoes look like they are just about to turn red. Going a darker green at the top always seems to happen just before the tomato begins to turn. In a few weeks you should certainly be eating a lot of those tomatoes.

Oh yippeeee! and thanks Nicki85, I can't wait for my tomatoes now, there's at least 40 and still loads of flowers too

The cucumber you can see in one of the pictures has grown by about a third already so I think I'll harvest it tonight or tomorrow to give the others a chance to grow.

[Ace]

Cucumber leaves might be drying out due to lack of water. Cukes need lots of water as thats what they are made of (90%). The courgettes are fine. The grey mottling on the leaves is their natural pigment and pattern. You can tell by rubbing the leaves, you won't feel any powdery substance.

If you see grey spots /blotches on cukes or squash leaves then it will probably be powdery mildew, when you rub those they will be a gritty powder. If that happens simply spray all the leaves with a mix of semi-skimmed milk and water (9 parts water - 1 part milk).

[Nicola_D]

Thanks Ace, I had read you can treat powdery mildew by misting with water, but hadn't heard about the milk. Will keep an eye out