i suppose thats one advantage of having a shorter growing season up north
Well No! I think we may have a higher rainfall than you do, so I can get away with no watering or just a little watering in really hot summers (what one of those I hear you ask
)
In terms of the length of my growing season I think is subject to what I plant and how I plant e.g successional sowings/plantings for example.
Personally I think it is more down to the quality of the soil I have.
My soil is quite loamy / humus rich and I think that is down to the amount of manure I have put in it over the years.
The reason I say this is on a comment I received from the plot holder I swapped plots with a couple of years ago, when he got into digging my old plot he commented on how easy it was to dig, whereas the plot I took over from him was quite heavy and dead due to lacking humus.
Sadly since I made the exchange my old plot has not been cared for in the manner I did, meaning if Iwas to let it, this could annoy me but as I said previously....each to their own!
Back to your bean trenches; another difference between you and me is the fact that I have gone off runner beans, I now prefer growing two or three smallish lots of fast growing climbing french beans which keeps me supplied throughout the whole season rather than just getting a one off bumper crop of say runner beans. I find that these grow without the need for trenching so at my time of life this can only be a good thing.
My surplus from each batch goes into the freezer for out of season use!
You say:
different methods that make this site so rich and diverse I agree and this is one of the reason I go into the banter of comparing notes with you and the others, as it is the thing I miss most on our site, and that is no one seems to have the time to have a natter and put the world to right any more .
So hopefully lads and lassies you will all carry on with the good work into 2017 and make an old bugger like me happy!