23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
The length described sounds to me like they are being picked maybe a little early, but just about right (seed development or lack thereof is a better indicator than length). My experience is that younger beans are more tender, the toughening fiber occur more with age. Maybe pick a variety of ages and see which she likes, if any. Otherwise maybe a high water content makes them have more crunch and she should leave them out on the counter for a day and they'll go limp. Limper. Or perhaps the variety is just that way... Good luck!
Female flowers have a small 'baby' squash on the end. The male flowers don't. The stamens are different too, but on zukes the baby squash is obvious enough that that's the easiest way.
One male flower can be used to pollinate multiple female flowers. I walk the garden every morning and look for open female flowers, if I see any, I pick a male and just walk through and swirl it in them all.
Also most weeds have not seeded yet. Hoeing now, without worrying about vegetable plants, has its advantages. It is not all bad news, and next year there will be fewer weeds. Lettuce seeds will not germinate now, it is too hot. Beet and carrot seeds will struggle too, and peas will not germinate either (all this for direct seeded). But many brassica seeds (komatsuna, bekana, arugula, napa, turnip,kale) will germinate just fine. In fact it is too early for bekana and arugula.
The poster was working with containers. When you're doing square-inch gardening, the point is to keep it going and have fun.
In winter I like keeping a pot of scallions in the sunniest window. I weaken them terribly with constant snipping, but wouldn't be without them.
The plants will self regulate and produce between 3 and 5 good fruits each, more if it is a small-fruited variety. At this point, you just let em run. Unlike most C. pepos, spaghetti squash stays close to the ground and develops supplemental roots where the stems touch the soil. Even if the primary crown is lost to borers, strong plants will keep on going.
I use ½" mainline tubing with several lengths of ¼" dripline coming off it at the head of each bed  like soaker hoses, but more flexible and durable. Assembly is easy and it works like a charm. It's been easy to extend as I've added to the garden.
I keep it on a timer. I like watering in the pre-dawn hours, which gives the plants a chance to take up the water before the sun evaporates it. On each watering day, I have it set to water for 5-10 minutes, then wait an hour, then water another 5-10 minutes, etc. That seems to saturate the soil better with less runoff than one long continuous watering.
Dripworks, where I bought mine, offers a design service  you send them a sketch of your garden and they'll design a system for you. They've been excellent  knowledgeable, ship promptly, know their products and have a good range of solutions, from farms to square foot gardens. It's worth ordering their catalog to check out some options.
OK, so if they are leeks they are essentially biennial and will flower in their second year from seed. So the plants you have are going to flower either this year or next. I'm not sure what your goal is with rooting them. Is it curiosity to see what happens or do you hope for another harvest from them? If you want good quality leeks for eating it would be best to start again from seed. You don't say where you live so we can't say if these will over-Winter in your zone. Personally, I think the one on the left is going to flower soon anyway.
hey all - again, thanks for your responses! yes my object was really just curiosity and now i have seen that they grow really well. maybe not for eating, but just as plants. i live in SF, Ca in a transitional/partly foggy area. I guess I'll plant them in the yard and see what happens. Thanks!
If the wounds are deep, they likely will spoil. what is the hurry to remove fruits...to set more? If the plants are really healthy and stay that way till frost, they can set on more anyway. Course that 'really healthy thing' is a big if as the season progresses.
dunno if i can suggest much, yep make the beds at least a good foot deep +, ensure their is drainage a layer of small rocks in the bottom, we only water by hand as needed, which is once or twice a week in the heat of summer, if we get good rain then no watering at all we do mulch heavily.
our beds are 6mX1m and about 500 to 600mm high
len
Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
another pic
Here is a link that might be useful: lens bale garden