Either go to your local GC and buy an insecticide that you can use of food crops or if you use eco friendly washing up liquid, such as Ecover, you can add a squirt of along with a drop or two of sunflower oil to a water spray bottle and spray with that. To keep blackfly and the like off your broad beans spray with garlic spray again you can buy in your GC or make up yourself.

You should always pinch out the top 4" of a broad bean plant once it gets to a reasonable height, as the blessed little black things only go for the tops. I wouldn't spray crops that you're going to eat with an insecticide, but if you give them a good, strong spray with the hose (just plain water) it'll get rid of the little blighters, and you can give them another cold water treatment after a few days. It's worked wonders around our garden. Also, grow loads of flowering plants in and around your veg. plot to encourage birds and aphid-eating insects (hoverflies, etc.) to the area. The blue-tits and sparrows have done a great job of keeping our caterpillars and aphids down, especially at this time when they're all feeding their young. Annie