Topic: Foiled by the field beans....

[artichoke]

I thought I had found the perfect crop......field beans germinated well in the autumn, stood over the winter, provided masses of fresh beans in the spring and early summer, then I stopped watching them. Today I hoped to pick dried pods for soup beans over the winter, and found they had done what legumes do: split open and scattered any seeds all over the ground.

I should have picked them off weeks ago. When does anyone pick theirs for dried beans?

[ancellsfarmer]

I have suffered similarly. I decided this year to treat them like the agricutural crop they are, just harvest the whole lot at one pass, freeze the beans,pull the haum,compost strait away, Done!
I suggest you chop the haum, let the beans sprout and when4-6 ins tall, dig the lot strait in.

[Silverleaf]

Field beans are a type of broad bean, right?

[artichoke]

Yes, tougher over the winter, very tall, so although the pods are short with small beans, you get lots of them, until they explode......so in future I will do as advised.....pick lots of green beans early, then soon afterwards get the lot before they shed their seeds.

In this case, I will drag the plants out of the ground, fork it over, and see what comes up in ?October, and let them grow through the winter.

I love broad beans and will continue to sow them in the autumn to stand over the winter and produce fatter, sweeter beans inj the early spring.

[Silverleaf]

They sound interesting! I've never grown broad beans of any kind and I really should give them a go.

[Digeroo]

I have problems with voles and squirrels eating dry beans, so I tend to crop slightly before they are thoroughly dry and finish off on the windowsill, they sill germinate if you do not remove them from the pods until they are totally dry.

I have not tried the field beans except for green manure.  What sort are you growing, it is the Wizard? 

I like keeping the whole plot covered in the winter, with freely draining soil I like to lock up and remaining nutrients before they are leeched out.    Something I can eat early will be very welcome, aquadulce does not survive through the winter here.

[artichoke]

All I can say is that Wizard field beans stood well over the winter from autumn sowing, grew tall and prolific in the spring and early summer, providing lots of fresh green small beans.....but later (late August) exploded their dried beans across my patch, just when I wanted to collect dried beans for the winter.

I will follow advice: pull up the dead plants, disturb the ground a bit, and see what grows. Could be more field beans standing over the winter, and I will make sure I harvest them faster next year.