Back with a vengance and a spade :)
Mynx
Posts: 101
Hello people I am back lol! I have spent the last few weeks busy in the garden (OH went to Austria for 10 days so I could do as I pleased, when I pleased 
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As I have been working in the garden I have come across quite a few things that I don’t understand, so rather than ask a question on here every day, I decided to wait and put the whole lot down in one go… hope you all don’t mind. Most of my queries are to do with plants I have never grown before so do not know if I am doing it right or not. Anyway, here goes…..
My sweetpeas have become peas!! Is this right?
The mangetout have grown well, but I am only able to pick about six at a time, they are flowering, but not ripening at the same time – is this normal?
Same for the dwarf beans – about six are ripe at any one time 
I seem to be inundated with blackfly, is anyone else?
For the first time my lilies had lily beetle – did anyone else get this?
My hydrangea is not very well at all - seemed fine one day then droopy and poorly looking the next - what am I doing wrong?
On a good note, my nasturtiums are running riot J.
Your help, as always, is much appreciated. Happy days.
Posts
Hi Mynx. Yes, aweet peas will form little pea pods if they are not picked all the time. Don't let your plants go to seed or they will stop flowering. Erratic weather may be the answer to the uneven ripening. Not noticed blackfly in my garden but had lily beetles and sawflies. Is your hydrangea in moist soil and partial shade - these being its preferred conditions?
p.s. Blackfly LOVE nasturtiums.
I believe hydrangea is lover of water, so part shade would be best.
You need to get the pea pods off your sweet peas asap or they will stop flowering.
Yes, I have problems with blackfly on some of my runner beans, not an infestation yet and hopefully I've stopped it developing to that extent.
Again, seen some lily beetles but not too many. I zap 'em with but spray as soon as I spot them or the damage they cause.
If it's new they can take a while to become established. All you can do is keep an eye on it and make sure it's watered if it starts to wilt.
Thanks everyone - I will cut off the little peas first thing in the morning (I thought the sweetpea flowers were flagging!). The hydrangea isn't new, it's two years old and bloomed brilliantly last year, I will keep my eye on it
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Ladybird - I was told nasturtiums keep the blackfly away from other plants which is why I tried them this year and it seems to work in that particular flower bed, it's the plants in pots that are coming under attack instead, Maybe it's just me, but none of the flowers seem to be particularly bright this year compared with last year? Perhaps it's just because the weather is dismal that the colours don't seem to shine through
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Ha ha Mynx. The reason that people use nasturtiums to keep blackfly 'away' is because the blackfly will go to the nasturtiums rather than the more precious plants in a garden. They are diversion plants.
If the sweetpea flowering is already reduced it may already be too late for some of the plants. Once they start to set seed they apparently cease to flower and, unlike most plants, removing the seed heads doesn't encourage them to produce more flowers.
That said, there may not be seed pods on all plants so keep removing dead / wilting flowers.