Hi all!! ::)
This is the first year that I have planted overwintering broad beans. I planted the sutton dwarf type and they have all come up and are doing well under my plastic bottle cloches!!
Do I still need to keep the cloches on until the risk of last frosts have past. I am asking as some of the leaves are going black etc where they touch the plastic bottles!!
Please help!! ???
Nobbs xx :P
I'm a bit nervous now! I planted some Sutton in November, without any protection at all (extreme gardening?) and the showed their little heads sometime mid-december. Haven't been able to get there to check since Boxing day (when they looked fine) but that was before the worst of the weather :-\ Must go and check how they are doing.
You can usually sow non-hardy broadies in Feb I think, so at a guess to try and be useful, I'd say whip off the bottle cloches sometime in Feb, perhaps when a couple of mild days/nights are forecast.
Moggle - I also sowed some Suttons in November, also without protection, and they're fine - about 6 inches tall and looking quite healthy considering over the last few weeks they've been hit by frost, rain, wind and a light dusting of snow!
Cheers,
Rob ;)
ps. did some in pots in the greenhouse as a back-up, so now have far too many... :-[
snap
i thought i had no chance in hell of them ever showing as i sowed them and then we had really hard frost for like a week or so
i was assured by a friend that they would make an appearance in their own time. so they have
i had a fleece over them for a bit but i have removed that now. it doesnt seem necessary. time now to put in 'filler' seed where four havent shown up.
I grew Aquadulce Claudia last season for the 1st time & sowed them October-ish. Didn't give them any protection at all and the plants were all brill - more than I can say for the beans tho - lovely fat pods and loads of them but very few beans :(
Still, the compost heap benefited ;D
I have grown Bunyards Exibition broad beans for the last six years,without protection, after planting them in November and last Wednesday they were up!
This is the latest they have appeared.
Broad beans seem to be hardy to almost everything. All I have done is put a bit of sharp sand around the base of them, just to make it a little bit harder for the slugs to shin up them or shelter in that gap which you sometimes get between the base of the plant and the soil.
I do the same with garlic though I have never really tested if it actually makes any difference.
If I want to plant some should I wait till February or go ahead now? Meant to do it October/ November but ran out of time and daylight.
When I had mine I was told to either put them in Oct/Nov or under cloches in Feb. (I live in the midlands). Chose the earlier option, but do remember the advice abt the cloche.
Thanks for the advice. Would fleece do? (Or plastic coke bottles?) MY sons are coke addicts - not the one you sniff I hasten to add. ;D
If you're getting few beans in the pods that's due to poor pollination. You need to encourage your insect population all you can.
Hey moggle, snap - I planted Sutton in December (got a little behind :P) and they were up and waggling in the breeze when I went to look today! ;D
Quote from: grawrc on January 17, 2006, 18:38:16
Thanks for the advice. Would fleece do? (Or plastic coke bottles?) MY sons are coke addicts - not the one you sniff I hasten to add. ;D
;D ;D
Would you think of starting them off in pots & planting them out when they've germinated - might give them a start. Then take it from there as to if you fleece for frost protection?
Quote from: Nobbyman on January 17, 2006, 12:29:45
Do I still need to keep the cloches on until the risk of last frosts have past. I am asking as some of the leaves are going black etc where they touch the plastic bottles!!
Hmmm, so back to Nobbyman's original question - based on what people have said here about their suttons being okay, then perhaps the black where the beans touch the bottles is a bit of scorch from the sun?? I think you're in Bristol Nobby? I can't imagine you having worse weather than me in Oxfordshire, or Alishka in the Midlands so I'm guessing that it's not cold.
I would say no remove cloches..Broad beans should be hardy ..
As I think I have said before out of habit I always put a row of broadies out in Oct and My main crop of broadies I sow in late Feb early March .To be honest I haven't found a lot of difference as the over wintered ones have to wait for the soil, temp and light etc to grow on to maturity ,,,So do we gain a lot by setting them in Autumn ?Maybe a week or 2 ..Whats Your thoughts on this ?? cheers Jim....
The autumn ones seem to bear beans before the blackfly really get a grip on my site, but if that's not a problem where you are then have to agree. Would say though that here its probably more like 3 or 4 weeks difference.
Oooooooooh!!
O.K - So perhaps I have better remove cloches!!!
Thanks for all your advice!!
Nobbs xx
Moggle - yep live in sunny Bristol!!!!
Just for the record, I checked my broadies at lunch time today and they are looking weeny but good - apart from where the slugs have had a taste >:(
I my aquadulces were all looking fine at the weekend for the record.
Never use cloches or fleece for my broadbeans when sowing in autumn.
My next crop I am sowing in early March, and it makes a differene of about 3 weeks, I guess between the winter and the spring sowed ones.
I don't protect my autumn-sown aquadulces but they're looking fine.
(http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/1484/mykitchengarden0381xz.th.jpg) (http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mykitchengarden0381xz.jpg)
QuoteI am sowing in early March, and it makes a differene of about 3 weeks, I guess between the winter and the spring sowed ones.
Good idea,Lady Cosmos.I might do the same.