broad beans

[pastyman]

picked the last of the beans today and pulled up the plants which are affected by blackfly.can i compost or should the plants be destroyed by burning or some other eco friendlier option.

[Chickpea]

Dig 'em in! Even the ones with blackfly. Beans are marvellously useful plants because they take nitrogen out of the air and add it to your soil. Nitrogen is a nutrient much loved by leafy plants such as lettuce, salad, chicory, spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi etc. So dig the beans in and let them rot down in the earth before planting your brassicas, which will then do magnificently well in the nitrogen-rich soil.

[andyg]

i cut the stems off to put on the compost heap and leave the roots in the ground to be dug in in winter. there might be a problem of passing on diseases, so burn any infected material to stop the cycle. don't worry about superficial diseases like chocolate spot, it doesn't affect the taste or the yield. if you've lifted them all up, just put them on the heap.