Topic: Runner Bean Beds

[DavidW]

I’m going to start my runner bean bed for next year, by trenching and adding compost / manure and covering. A guy on the next plot says he does the same, but puts in plastic sheeting first to hold the water. Does anyone else use this method?

Thanks
David

[terrace max]

Hello David

It all sounds like a lot of trouble for runner beans, which grow well in almost any soil.

If you want super-sized yields have you considered a food trench? All you do is throw your usual compost material into a trench in its uncomposted state, cover with soil and plant your beans on top. Works a treat!

[Trenchboy]

Plastic sheetin could well cause problems.

Layers of newspaper or cardboard are fine, and they rot down eventually.

[bupster]

Never heard of a food trench before. Do you have any links, terrace? Just taken over allotment and won't get round to compost heap for a while yet - hate to throw composting material away

[tim]

But I put so much waste in that I ended up with a ridge.

Better next year, hopefully.

[RosieM]

Hi all,

I did this last year, found the method in an old organic paperback. It worked really well, there was a ridge but it collapsed over the winter, the only slight drawback has been the number of potato and avocado plants growing amongst the beans!

 ;D

Rosie

[beejay]

My lecturer at college used to put old woolly jumpers in the bottom of her trench. Have to make sure they are wool though.

[terrace max]

Never heard of a food trench before. Do you have any links, terrace?

Hello Bupster - I tried to find a link for you on the HDRA website but the relevant factsheet seems to have gone...

From memory, and from my own efforts, it's as simple as it sounds. Just make sure you cover the food with soil to deter rats, foxes etc. And mark the trench with canes so you know where to plant.

As the other posts suggest, I think the idea is an old one. The old boys round here used to throw all their weeds into the trench as well. But then they talk about planting apple trees on a dead dog...!

[wardy]

All the old guys on my plot do this trench thing and they chuck all their veggie outer leaves, cabbage stalks, newspapers, pea pods, basically any organic matter, peelings, tea bags, NOTHING COOKED OR MEAT of course, old flowers, coffee dregs, you name it  :)

I didn;t have time to prepare a trench so I just used good old farmyard manure and planted my runner beans plants directly into it.  They all got killed off by frost though on 4th and 5th June so I had to start again, but two kind chaps gave me some of theirs  :)

[carloso]

i was thinking of using the plastic also but making sure i pricked it with holes about 6 inches up as i didnt want the plant to be effectivly water logged either !

i also was going to use this method for peas also as there thirsty buggers

then also im going to trial with tomatoes plant s too !!

can you see where im coming from

carl

[Mubgrub]

Do you leave the trench open all winter or cover it over every time you put new waste in? (sorry if that's a bit dim, my excuse is its late and I'm tired ::))

[RosieM]

I just collected the stuff in bins dug the trench, bunged it in and covered it with a layer of soil. Then bunged the next lot in, covered etc until it was full and I had run out of soil and space.

That was what the book said, I think I may have put a layer of newspaper in the bottom (my idea).

Rosie

[wardy]

Carloso   Are you putting the plastic in the bottom of the trench to retain moisture?  If so I think all the material you put in would do the same thing so maybe placcy is belt and braces  :)

[moonbells]

I did this for the first time this year - dug a trench out and filled with manure, after I'd made the decision to keep my runners in the same spot each year to allow me to put up a permanent structure.

Last year the early September wind took out half the canes, and snapped off most of the plants before they'd finished so I needed something more resilient. Two sharpened posts were duly hammered into the ground and thick wire put between them. Dug and filled the trench, then pushed canes into the ground on the very outside of the trench and tied them to the wire with green twine. Planted the beans on the inside of the canes and watched them grow like Topsy. Never had such a good crop, and certainly not with both flowers and foliage right to the base!

moonbells

[terrace max]

Do you leave the trench open all winter or cover it over every time you put new waste in? (sorry if that's a bit dim, my excuse is its late and I'm tired ::))

dig it, fill it, cover it as you fill it, in spring...

[Ed^Chigliak]

Nope I don't do any of that. They seem to grow well enough without any special ground preperation. I spread some compost at the begining of the year and build a support frame.

[westsussexlottie]

I have also heard of woolly jumpers and old woollen trench coats used in bean trenches to good effect.

[wardy]

No dig, just manure on top of cardboard and they're doing well  :)

[terrace max]

Nope I don't do any of that. They seem to grow well enough without any special ground preperation. I spread some compost at the begining of the year and build a support frame.

Yep, food trenches and the like are definitely for those who want an abundance of runners!

[redimp]

Is it a good place to put anybody you don't like?   ;D