Topic: Broad Beans help

[herring8]

I'm wanting to get some broad beans going and  got my seeds today - the packaging suggests they can go in the ground straight away.  I checked Alan Titchmarsh's growing veg book which I've found v.useful and he is talking about growing them in pots and planting out in spring, can they go straight outside??

[Eristic]

I sow direct outside. If winter peas and broad beans are planted 3 inches deep instead of the usual 2 inches, they will escape predation from the local wildlife.

[Squash64]

I always sow indoors in cell trays and plant outside when they are a few inches high.  Last year, I sowed them directly into the ground and only half of them came up.
The ones I sowed in trays in the polytunnel a couple of weeks ago are just germinating.

[tomatoada]

Somewhere on this site there was a thread suggesting freezing the seeds before sowing. I am trying that this year.
   I also plant mine in pots and leave in my mini greenhouse until 2-3 inches high.  I then plant out and cover with polythene over hoops.
   This worked well last year.  I had early b/beans and a good crop.
   Hope the freezing does not kill the seeds.

[shirlton]

Mine went into pots 2 weeks ago and they were planted out on Saturday. Last year lost half of them due I think to the early onset of winter or perhaps the mice

[artichoke]

I am a keen advocate of pre-chitting in plastic bag with damp cloth. I have read that this discourages mice, and have several times found that my rows germinate but my neighbours' become neat rows of little holes. Also, it saves having annoying gaps, as there are always a few seeds that never come to life. I wait until a tiny white root shows, dib a hole, drop it in, and rake it over.

Have just sown about 80 (a few more to come, as they have not put out roots yet), and it works for me every year. Aquadulce are supposed to be the best for sowing just now, for hardiness.

An elderly gent on my site always pulls the soil up each side of a row, like potatoes - he says it protects them from frosts....

I have found in previous years that if I fertlise the bed to well, the beans grow tall and lush and don't produce many flowers.

[Trevor_D]

I sow mine in modules, then plant out - but that's what I do for most things. (Fairly useless at direct sowing, come to think about it....)

Mine went in a couple of weeks ago on the heated sand-bench. Now moved off - we need the space for fuchsia & pelargonium cuttings - so I'll harden them off a bit and plant them out in the next week or so.

Last winter was very cold so I lost a few, but still had a very good crop. The year before, the whole lot came through the winter!

[BarriedaleNick]

I sow direct and usually get good survival rates despite the attention of various rodents.  Came though the snow last Winter and have got mine in the ground as of a week ago.  One of the few things that cope with a plant and forget approach!

[grawrc]

Half of mine went straight into the ground and are just beginning to show. The other half were "chitted" on damp kitchen towelling and went out once sprouted  3 days ago.

[Digeroo]

Hope the freezing does not kill the seeds.

Freezing does not seem to affect the germination.   It does seem to prevent blackfly.  Beans should be dry ie in the packet.  Suggestion originally came from Geoffrey Smith I think or someone else on Gardeners Question Time many years ago.

[tomatoada]

Thanks for that.
 Might try the damp cloth and p/bag to see if they are viable.

[Unwashed]

I sow direct and haven't had any problems.

It's only Aquadulce Claudia that can go in now, right?

[grawrc]

No there are others - e.g the sutton and super aquadulce

[artichoke]

I've always found the Sutton very disappointing and don't grow it any more. I like my broad beans tall.

[sarah]

i am going to have a go with the freezing the seeds method. how long shall i freeze them for (overnight? - longer?) and do they need to thaw out before sowing? i will be very interested to see how they go with the black fly. i always have a big problem with that.

[saddad]

Freezing does not seem to affect the germination.   It does seem to prevent blackfly.  Beans should be dry ie in the packet.  Suggestion originally came from Geoffrey Smith I think or someone else on Gardeners Question Time many years ago.

Just as an aside it helps for French Beans and peas et cetera... it kills any weevils that may hatch in your own saved seeds...  a week in the fridge or a couple of days in the freezer...  :)

[Digeroo]

I freeze mine for a couple of weeks.  Never thought about defrosting I just sow them.  In the spring I sow them into damp kitchen roll and put on a cool windowsill (N)and then once there is a small root showing sow them under plastic bottles becuase the squirrels here eat them.  

Not much experience of autumn ones never managed to get much produce.  So  tend to get my first ones out in February and then sow every couple of weeks.  I am going to try again with the autumn ones this year.  So took mine out of the freezer and threw them in last week.  May also do a later batch.  

I did not know that it was good for French beans as well.  I have been doing my best to keep them out of the frost.