Broad Beans
Cottage Compost
Posts: 496
I am having problems getting a decent crop of Broad Beans "Sutton"every year, well for the last three years I've been trying.
My garden is wet in the winter and dry in the summer but I have been adding plenty of horse manure in the autumn to try and balance things up a bit and it may be another few years maybe before this is achieved.
I don't and can't have a greenhouse for now within the garden for reasons I shall not go into here now but I will have one in the future. But I do have the use of free space in a friends greenhouse as and when free space is available.
Thus far I've been putting bean seeds directly into the ground in spring which results in poor germination and poor plants and harvest. I have tried starting them in pots, great but when they go into the ground they then suffer.
Thinking of Autumn sowing but what about my Autumn application of horse manure and winter wet?
Or should I give in?
Or should I start my beans somewhat later in the spring for a later crop perhaps?
Posts
Our garden sounds quite similar ... we sow Aquadulce 'Claudia' at the end of October following an application of well rotted farmyard manure and home-made compost. The beans cope well with the wet and cold, we start picking at the end of May and have only just finished ... loads of meals and lots in the freezer too.
I find Claudia copes better with our winters than Sutton, but being a bit taller I Ido put a fence of canes and string around them as they get taller in March, so they don't get too bashed by the Norfolk winds.
Last edited: 06 July 2017 13:45:29
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you Dove, i'll be trying Aquadulce 'Claudia' this Autumn.
I have such wet soil that I can't keep anything overwinter in it, so I sow mine in around February as soon as the ground thaws.(they germinate some time late in march normaly) I've done both Aquadulce and Hangdown this way both germinate at around 95% and grow fine, however aquadulce tastes much better than hangdown does!
We have never had any success with overwintering Broad Beans. We are just too cold even for things as hardy as they are supposed to be. Spring sowing in the greenhouse works for us.
I can't overwinter beans (or peas) here either - the voles and mice dig them up when the living gets harder, usually around January. So I start aquadulce beans in root trainers in the greenhouse in about November and keep them in small pots in there through the winter, pinching out the tips if they get leggy in a mild spell. Around March (or whenever the ground warms up a bit and isn't totally waterlogged) I plant them out, by which time they are usually strong bushy little plants about 4 or 5 inches tall and they go away happily.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”