Author Topic: broad beans  (Read 11124 times)

shambasarfi

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #20 on: November 11, 2014, 15:31:03 »
We were very successful with planting our broad beans in early Spring and covering the ground with a net (to prevent mice eating them) until the seedlings had started pushing up.  I cannot remember the variety we used but it was one with quite hairy pods.  This was the first time we were successful but the ground had been manured the year before and covered for a year and we think this is the reason.
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artichoke

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #21 on: November 11, 2014, 18:30:18 »
As I have written before, I am a great believer in overwintering broad beans, also Wizard field beans. Only the very worst winters damage them, and because they have developed strong underground root systems, they pop up again in the early spring with new shoots.

At the moment mine are threatened by deer apparently dancing over my beds every morning and evening, so I have put up some flimsy bamboo and netting defences. Time will tell if they simply push these over, or run round an easier way.

Has anyone else successfully protected their crops against deer without spending a fortune?

Nigel B

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #22 on: November 13, 2014, 22:33:39 »
Start saving your hair.  :tongue3:
Actually, Deer don't like the smell of humans, (can't think why. Much), and hair holds the smell very well.
Try your local hairdresser for the sweeping-ups, and if you can get some, tie handful's into tights or stocking material and hang them around your veggy-bed protective sticks.  :glasses9:

You could also sprinkle some pee around while you are there. That also helps.  :wave:

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Vinlander

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #23 on: November 14, 2014, 13:51:28 »
I'm also a believer in early sowings - 2 in October and November always produce and one of them is usually nearly free of blackfly. But I use Aquadulce Claudia in London so they are more than hardy.

I also sow green-seeded "flavour kinds" in March. No point sowing rough old hardy kinds in the new year unless you get killer late frosts.

Horses for courses.

I have tried putting cloches over any September sowings or volunteers that came up too quick (because they look so "soft") but the ones the cloches missed actually fared better.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Archie

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #24 on: November 23, 2014, 15:34:02 »
I had beetles in my crop this year from spring sowing, not sure if winter grown would be better.

George the Pigman

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #25 on: November 23, 2014, 22:32:08 »
Having tried both overwintering and sowing in modules in February the later modules option wins hands down where I am in Brum. If you get a mild winter or a cold one with not too much rain you get a reasonable crop (It's wet and cold that bumps them off!). Otherwise it's hopeless.
Even if you get them through winter it only gains you a week or two in cropping.

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #26 on: November 24, 2014, 14:04:19 »
If you get beans with beetle holes, a couple of days in the freezer - obviously while the beans are dry - will kill them without affecting viability. I find I do better planting them direct. Planting out from modules sets them back and makes them temporarily vulnerable to slugs or pigeons, while I don't get the slug problem with direct planting.

artichoke

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #27 on: November 25, 2014, 18:26:16 »
I have fine netting over one bed of field beans, but some creature is getting in and digging out the seeds at the base of the plants, which are growing strongly where not damaged, but the bed will be patchy. Very sad to see the broken shoots lying around.

Other bean beds (ignored by the creatures) are growing too fast in this warm wet weather (East Sussex) but at least the flimsy netting I put round them has stayed in place and not been pushed over.

I have heard of the hair solution against deer but in spite of living next to a hairdresser I think I could never get enough for 2 ravaged allotments at that site! Cheap netting and old bamboos and string are working well....

Nigel B

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #28 on: November 26, 2014, 17:46:35 »


I have heard of the hair solution against deer but in spite of living next to a hairdresser I think I could never get enough for 2 ravaged allotments at that site! Cheap netting and old bamboos and string are working well....

Yes, I don't think its just one of those old wives' tales.
Deer are a wary animal at the best of times and the smell of human really upsets the flight-or-fight hormone ratio in favour of legging it.
If deer were bothering me I would combine the handful-of-hair technique with the string and bamboo barrier you already use.  I doubt it could hurt in any way, and ya never know, it might just tip the balance back in your favour... and remember ;) you only have to deter the deer from your plot. Making your neighbour's plot seem an easier meal to a deer is fair-doos to me. :)

Back on topic. The overwintered broad beans I grew last year, from the seed-swap, reached a height of seven or even eight feet tall. They tended to outgrow pest attacks and cropped very well indeed.
I might even plant a few outside in the next day or so. We still haven't had any real frost yet.
"Carry on therefore with your good work.  Do not rest on your spades, except for those brief periods which are every gardeners privilege."

Digeroo

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #29 on: November 27, 2014, 02:07:01 »
My wizard beans are being eaten too, not netted but the squirrels and voles will simply bite through it so it just spoils the netting.  Funnily the earliest sown ones are untouched.  Not clear why not.  Left some under bottles too long and they have gone leggy.    I have been experimenting with burying the seeds rather deeper.    Might have to dip the seeds into something smelly.

Some of the plants are so far looking very bonny.  Though not holding my breath. 

What variety were your seven feet beans did they need support


galina

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #30 on: November 27, 2014, 09:06:09 »
I had beetles in my crop this year from spring sowing, not sure if winter grown would be better.

Like Robert said - after a short spell in the freezer they get killed and their eggs too.  Although there will probably be other beetles waiting in the garden and the ones killed off aren't the main culprits for next year's crop.  There are years where you have more, others where you have none.  Just one of those things.

Just want to add that I doubt it makes any difference when they were sown because the damage is done by the adults shortly after flowering in summer when the eggs are laid.   

By the way, it may be worth watching French bean seeds saved this year.  The bean beetle is rarer than the broad bean one, but more devastating to seeds.  Broad beans with holes will generally germinate well, beans often not at all.  And in a warmer summer we seem to get more.  The only time I had them on my French beans was the warm summer of 2003.  It is likely there are some this year too because of warmer weather.  I will keep a careful look-out anyway.  Not overly worried about broad beans with holes in. 

Bing

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #31 on: December 07, 2014, 22:59:44 »
wired year...mine Broad Bean seeds had been in ground for just over three weeks, and no one germinated yet!

marcofez

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #32 on: December 15, 2014, 22:47:52 »
This is my first try of overwintering and growing broad beans on my plot. I have 'aquadulce' coming through which I have covered with net cloches to stop any pigeons nibbling away. Hopefully will get a good crop.

Digeroo

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #33 on: December 16, 2014, 08:56:10 »
I had a few over the winter beans but the tops have bent over and rotted already.  Too windy.

Wizard still looking good.  Caught a mouse yesterday.  Thought it was a vole until I saw its long tail. 

I have found that burying the beans a little deeper and then earthing up with manure seems to prevent them being eaten, though the voles seem to have little problems digging. 

My pigeons not keen on BB.  Not found nets any protection against the mice and voles thy simpy gnaw through or go underneath. 


Vinlander

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #34 on: December 18, 2014, 20:14:56 »
Funnily the earliest sown ones are untouched.  Not clear why not.

This sounds like something that we notice more with peas -

1) Mice etc. show a lot more interest in colder weather when there's less alternative food.
2) They are much more interested in the pea seed than the shoot - they dig down alongside the shoot and leave most of them scattered about after they have eaten the pea. BTW. That's why the traditional guttering method doesn't stop your seedlings being attacked - it's a bit too shallow to support the plant until the seed has shrivelled - use something deeper like juice 'bricks'.
3) They can smell the seeds through the ground - if you use a barrier like expanded metal (metal lathing) that keeps them 20cm away from the row they often don't bother to burrow under it even though it is no problem for them. If they are really hungry then paraffin etc. can backfire because they can smell them from a greater distance.

To my taste buds a pea shoot tastes good and a broad bean one doesn't - so the effect should be stronger - anything that gets the plant ahead will reduce the severity - because more seeds will be shrivelled before the rodents get really hungry.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

laurieuk

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #35 on: December 29, 2014, 15:29:16 »

My aquadulce broad beens a few days ago when I went to pick the brussel sprouts for Christmas. They were sown late October and usually get through the winter to give a good early crop.

Digeroo

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #36 on: December 29, 2014, 20:55:02 »
Wow Silverleaf that is quite a collection of beans.  I like the idea of cross a field bean with a large bean variety, might give it a go.

My Wizard are mostly doing well, a few drooped in last nights frost, but I am pleased to see most of the plants have a couple of extra growing points near the ground, so hopefully if the main stem succumbs to the winter there are another couple of stems waiting in the wings.

Has anyone tried pinching out the growing tip of autumn BB to encourage more stems to form.

laurieuk

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #37 on: December 30, 2014, 12:02:51 »
Have not pinched out the tips but often the tip gets damaged and the lower shoots take over , which is more or less the same thing. It makes the crop that bit later  but not sure that you get more.

Digeroo

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Re: broad beans
« Reply #38 on: December 30, 2014, 15:07:50 »
I am not after more I am after anything.   If I get more than a few pods from Autumn sown BB I feei I am doing well. 












 

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