help yet again folks,im about to pull up my runner bean plants,having read somewhere(probably here) that its good to snip them into little pieces and dig them back into the ground..my question is,what would you then grow next year,on said ground?
thanks in advance and i hope that made sense
rach
x
You normall leave the roots in as they help fix Nitrogen into the ground.Not heard of snipping bits up.
Next year I would put whatever you fancy in Elvis.Do you do crop rotation?
we cut the beans down, leave the roots in the ground and plant brassicas, in fact our overwinter cabbage are in the old pea bed :)
I think I said about digging up the roots and snipping off the nodules, if you wanted to plant something else there, but betula and manics are right I think if they're not causing a problem
course if you leave the runner roots in, they may sprout next year if it's a mild winter
some people grow runners in the same place every year, especially if they have a permanent frame for climbing, but I don't know whether it's best to refresh the soil, because I move them about
maybe it was someone at our plot said about turning them in then? ive heard it somewhere for sre..yes we are crop rotating,hence why i asked which group to shove in this spot. thanks folks x
i pull mine up and leave them till im ready to dig a trenc to put them in (norm after xmas}.use them and other stuff in trench ready for next crop of runners.I have grown my runners in same place for 5 years and always get a good crop.
I would have thought that the crop after nitrogen fixers is brassicas and leaf crops but i'm happy to be corrected. My rotation plans make the Icelandic Business Model look like the model of prudence
;D rhubarb !!
Well and truly going to buck the trend here, my tats will be going in the old runner bean beds as that's the only available space left.
wow ninny,youve already got yourself that planned for next year? i sort of more or less am,but only a rough and ready plan,nothing as specific as yours sounds,very impressed!
i know its not the best way and i know i miss out on some things,
but am i realy the only one that just puts stuff in where theres a space?
lbb
hi lbb
we sort of did that this year,with it being our first,but trying to learn a little more for next year,without getting too stressed about it lol!
wont be putting my cabbages next to psb for example,cos it dwarfed them,and hid them from the sun,even though the psb turned out to be sprouts ha ha! will be putting brassicas together though,to make netting easier,things like that
x
I cut mine off soil level and leave the roots in the ground, then take off the saved seed pods and roll the netting up and tie it to the permanent fixture, then in Nov I dig half a trench and fill with the veggie peelings I've been saving and mix with shredded newspaper and rotted manure and cover with the soil. I repeat the other half of the trench in Dec and cover again with the soil, I was surprised how little I watered compared to the previous year doing it this way. Also I couldn't believe how big the roots were. :o ;D ;D ;D
corny,do you mean you leave the roots in,and they grow into plants again? next year?
x
elvis, yes they can as long as they dont get frosted
my dad lifts his and keeps them in the shed
lbb
No sorry Elvis, what I meant was they rot away in the ground as they help to fix the nitrogen. ;D ;D ;D
You can see the little nitrogen nodules developing around the roots, I rub them off into the soil if I'm in a hurry to sort my bed out. :)
Ninnyscrops