Allotments 4 All

Is it too late to sow broad beans? This maybe a silly question, but have just taken on my first allotment and am keen to plant something!! Any other ideas for things to plant now would be much appreciated. Thanks to you all.

I've not planted mine yet- but I will do it in pots as I think the mice will eat them otherwise. Then transplant in the spring probably.
Have you got the Aqualdulce type which are suitable.?
Welcome to A4A ;D ;D

I'm intending to do mine this week... it has been too warm so far...  :-X

welcome to A4A numpty I iwould sow in spring, then you are sure of a decent crop.

Thanks to all for your welcome and replies. May try all 3 options and see what works best for me. Will keep you updated on progress.

I planted mine in pots in early October, planted them out last week, and they're all looking healthy so far. You should get away with it if the weather remains mild, but it's getting a bit late unless you're going to keep them under cover. I'd wait till February now. Start them in pots, and they'll sit till it gets warm enough for them, safe from the mice.

After losing mine two years running I am not going to plant any.
I have grown Bunyards Exhibition sown in the Spring to replace the Aquadulce that have been lost  and have been so pleased with them that I wouldn't grow any other.

I sowed several batches of autumn broad beans and only a very few plants survived the winter but they were thoroughly outclassed by the February sown ones which cropped only a few days later. 

I have had better success with peas sown under plastic bottles which produce an early crop and winter hardly lettuce also under bottles.  Neither produced a huge crop but they were very welcome when there is not much else about.

I'd given up planting them too, but I have an accidental Aquadulce Claudia/Red Epicure cross, and I'm now planning to mix a lot more varieties into it. I segregated the green beans, and I want to select them for toughness, then put the survivors back in.

Last year my October sown broad beans were hammered by the frost and snow, and not many survived. Some did, and grew in really fast in the spring.

BUT: some I put in in late November stayed underground throughout all that - I thought they had died - but they popped up much later and did really well, much earlier than anyone else's on two allotment sites. Spring sown ones did well too, but later than the November ones.

In other words, it is a gamble, but one well worth taking.

My current BBs are just emerging. Nearby, a neighbours' BBs are about 9 inches tall, which I believe is a bit risky.

Old gentleman on one site earths up his autumn BBs like potatoes, and he always has a wonderful crop in the spring.

PS Always worth planting garlic, over wintering onions and shallots around now. They look really pretty and green and encouraging as winter closes in, and are as tough as old boots.

I agree with the comments above about Bunyards Exhibition and spring planting. Much better results for less effort than autumn planting in open ground or pots.
I like to start mine off in a bean sprouter and when the first root has broken out, plant with a dibber in February. Once that first root has started, there is no stopping them! The few that don't sprout can be ditched, helps you get your inter-plant spacing right.

If you want to try som enow I'd get some Aquadulce going in pots adn plant out once they've been up a few weeks....  but TBF I wouldn't bother with them, If you get the variety Express (from personal experience and Witkiem Manita if the packet is to be believed) then a FEbruary sowing on a windowsill, moved via a frame and hardened off in March to plant out end of March will beat them to crop and are a nicer bean to boot.... Aquadulce can be a robust old thing to eat.....

chrisc

Mine are in rootrainers in the poly coz  mice ate the peas that were in the ground. ::) No heating but a lid on should keep the mice out and get them ahead of the spring ones. IMO its more likely to be vermin than the cold than gets winter seed ::)
Can you start them in toilet roll holders in a covered box in the garden and then plant out when the seed has been fully absorbed?

Just planted out my first 80 odd plants all about four inches high.   I'll pop in another hundred or so in a couple of weeks.   

This year I'm determined not to have a glut .  .  .  .then nowt ! ! !    of veggies Cheers,   ::)  Tony.