Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: adrianhumph on November 19, 2008, 17:35:04
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Hi all,
Good news ;D the broad beans have stuck their heads above the parapets ;D
Bad news, the weather is set to be very cold this weekend :-[ should I throw some fleece over them as they have only just popped up ???
Adrian.
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They should be expecting the cold at this time of the year. How long have they taken to come up? I don't cover mine, though they are not up yet as i only planted them last week.
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Hi Kea,
they have taken 4 weeks to come up, we had a cold spell just after I planted them,
Adrian.
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They are supposed to endure the winter weather ah, if you planted the winter variety
-- someone here will come up with the type name soon [ senior moment ].
Mine are about 2" high now - afraid I have a ' they will or they wont ' attitude towards some
crops , only after I have done all I can for them.
Usually, they 'will' - suppose it's ' tough love '
floss x
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it won't do no harm, better safe than sorry, if you have some fleece or a small poly tunnel, and it depends where you live, i live in wiltshire, it don't get that cold really, i just stick a small coldframe over my plants (i dont grow that many,10 plants only)
i pinch the tips out after four/six true leaves, stopping them from growing any further during the winter, i do this on my early-winter peas, it makes a bushier - stronger plant,
i hope this helps
windy ;)
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Aquadulce broad beans survive the winter and grow more strongly, more resistant to pests and diseases, if you sow them in October/November, I'm told. I've never tried sowing them in the spring, so cannot compare.
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... i pinch the tips out after four/six true leaves, stopping them from growing any further during the winter ... windy ;)
Think I may be doing this too Windy as I discovered some saved seed for next year's sowing had got wet and were sprouting!! :-X Already 2" tall in pots in the coldframe! :-\
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... i pinch the tips out after four/six true leaves, stopping them from growing any further during the winter ... windy ;)
Think I may be doing this too Windy as I discovered some saved seed for next year's sowing had got wet and were sprouting!! :-X Already 2" tall in pots in the coldframe! :-\
Excellent idea, I sowed some Aquadulce to over winter and we had some dreadful winds and they got blown all over the place and broken etc. So stopping their growth like that for the duration makes sense. :) :) :)
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Not doing them this year but in the past I've just left them to their own means, they are hardy and look after theirselves, the only thing I did was sprinkle some slug pellets down because they love the early growth, well mine did anyway. God I can't believe I'm calling the slugs mine. :o ;D ;D ;D
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Aquadulce do fine if planted in early spring, but they're that little bit earlier if planted now.
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I always plant Aquadulce , & used to plant late autumn but wonder why now. As peeps say, late storms do more damage than ever the frosts used to (what frosts)?
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Hi all,
Good news ;D the broad beans have stuck their heads above the parapets ;D
Bad news, the weather is set to be very cold this weekend :-[ should I throw some fleece over them as they have only just popped up ???
Adrian.
lol i asked the same to my fellow plot mates, and they said no they be fine they winter beans lol
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Aquedulce are probably the best for over-wintering.
Don't sow them too early & don't cosset them too much (you want short fat strong growth, not lanky floppy stems)
I cloched them once - they grew too tall & soft, and when I took the cloches off in March, the wind just snapped them all.
Anyone tried Super Aquedulce? It's even betterer. I mean more betterer.
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Anyone tried Super Aquedulce? It's even betterer. I mean more betterer.
Bean Queen, I've sown 3 double rows of Super Aquadulce in the past few days. I'm now more gladder that I did. Never grown them before.
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We usually put stakes and string up between them to stop the wind from blowing them over. We never protect them with fleece or owt. Aquadulce is the variety we grow
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Must check, put the "Sutton" in a few weeks ago :-\
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What's the ideal spacing for broad beans? I read somewhere that double rows should be spaced 1 metre apart. That sounded over-generous, but I'm now worried that I may have sown mine too close together.
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I've been planting Aquadulce out at this time of year for a number of years now and find that they do best left to their own devices. They will look a bit sorry for themelves after a frost or very cold spell but come srping and you'll be amzed at how quickly they pick up.
I do 2 rows spaces about a foot or so apart and they do fine. Pinching out the tips in spring when they have grown to the height you want them keeps the start of the blackfly at bay.And a good feed of seaweed in spring perks them up no end too.
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I just leave enough room between double rows to allow me to get in and weed and eventually pick.
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I just leave enough room between double rows to allow me to get in and weed and eventually pick.
Thanks. I've left a couple of feet between mine, so that should be all right.
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just got my allotment is it too late now to put in broad beans i'm desperate to plant something?
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hi jan welcome to a4a
i'm no expert, but i would give it a go
lbb
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Thanks litttle lady bird I will give it a go, but not today the weather is dismal
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Hi,
Does it matter which way up you plant the beans as I didn't think about it until I'd done one row, and then was unsure whether the little light-coloured patch on the bean should be facing upwards or not.
Cheers!
Jon
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Mine aren't showing yet... :-\
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No sign of my broad beans...except for the rotting seed I found today sitting on the surface. I had a look and gently dug around where they should be ...nothing. looks like they've rotted or been eaten. :(
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MIne are showing at last!! ;D
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I just plant my seeds any way up. Just push them in the ground, or compost in a pot and no problem.
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Mine are just starting to show too, at last. :)
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just got my allotment is it too late now to put in broad beans i'm desperate to plant something?
I will be planting some more (Aquadulce) at the weekend but they will be in pots under cover. I wouldn't risk direct sowing with no ground cover at the moment - the ground is probably too cold and they will rot or the meeces'll get em.
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I think I'll plant some at home in pots.....I planted a lot and none have appeared!
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Chit them first - well known system of putting seeds into damp cloth inside plastic bag, plant out the ones that show a root after a few days.
Must admit I have a few gaps even after this. More chitting will fill these.
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I don't understand the 'panic' to plant at this time of the year.
If you live in the 'sarf', I can understand the reasoning.
Be patient, come spring, just get on with it! everything catches up in time - honest!!!!
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I don't understand the 'panic' to plant at this time of the year.
The idea behind planting BB's early is to miss the blackfly season which for me works very well. I planted mine when we had that really hard frosty snap and they're a good 5 inches high now.
I planted in November last year. After 6 weeks it was a no show so I planted another packet. Four weeks after that they had ALL come through so I had plenty of BB's last year.
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So P69,
Your beans grow backwards?
Sorry - 8) 8) 8)
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Hi,
Does it matter which way up you plant the beans as I didn't think about it until I'd done one row, and then was unsure whether the little light-coloured patch on the bean should be facing upwards or not.
Cheers!
Jon
Somwhere I read that beans should go in straigt up (not flat) with the scar down.
I think it has to do with less chance of rotting, when the water drains down, it will not puddle on top of a flat bean this way.
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I don't take any notice of stuff like that, as I find it very hard to imagine a vegetable seed, which has to germinate easily and reliably to be successful, being so delicate! If it was some really difficult plant, I might take it a bit more seriously, but beans?
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I believe that the careful positioning of bean seeds at planting time is more to do with showmanship where extremely good growers are competing with each other and vying for an advantage. If the seed is viable it will germinate and grow as soon as the required conditions prevail.
Patience is a key quality of allotment growing.
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I don't understand the 'panic' to plant at this time of the year.
If you live in the 'sarf', I can understand the reasoning.
Be patient, come spring, just get on with it! everything catches up in time - honest!!!!
I had a better crop last year when I planted in autumn than I did from planting in spring. the plants where healthier, I get chocolate spot and it didn't get the autumn planted ones till they had almost finished.
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Huge black fly probs with mine last year :(
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I had massive blackfly problems with my second crop last year. The problem with the overwintered ones was that while they were all alive at the beginning of Feb, half were dead by the end of March. I'll be planting them this year once the arctic weather seems to be past, and I'll bring them on under cover.
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Yes, the plants can look very sad in the winter, some even black and withered, clearly dead but................ the roots almost always survive.
As soon as the worst frost is past, the broken off and dead ones send up new shoots. They have a headstart because of the rootsystem and we always harvest by the time the spring sown ones just started blooming. Most important, before the black flies.
A nice extra benefit is that after the broadbean harvest there is plenty of time for another summer crop in the same space.
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BTW Robert, I only sow Aquadulce's in the fall. This is the type that I was talking about in the posting above.
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MIne are showing at last!! ;D
No sign of mine but your post gives me some small bit of hope.
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BTW Robert, I only sow Aquadulce's in the fall. This is the type that I was talking about in the posting above.
Half of mine expired last February, that's why I'm waiting!
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the ones in pots in the garden are showing through about an inch high ;D . Off to the lottie later to check on progress up there
1066
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I think I've made a pigs ear if it ..... :P
I planted them back in early November in loo rolls in m conservatory, then as soon as they all popped through I moved them outside (still in loo rolls).
Then the ground was frozen for most of December, followed by Xmas, yet they kept growing! Have just planted them out at the plot today now the ground is unfrozen and the kids are back at school.
The are all about 6 inches high and flopping over! :-[ :-[
Anyone going to give them the last rites for me or will they still have a chance of making it??!!! ??? ???
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Nah Pippy, don't give up. See my posting #41 on this tread.
Ours looked kind of droopy this week during hard frost. Must say that this winter is so far the coldest since we started growing broadbeans. Fingers crossed.