what learnt about broad beans

[gunners71uk]

well i am gonna put some broad beans in but some people on me allotment put them in nov and sometimes lose some i have cracked it not all varieties are for over wintering but aquadulce is ithink i spilled it wright !!. so i have some of them will see how it goes ill bung a few extras in .

[Wombat]

Go for it Gunners! hope it works out well.

Nev

[kevin m.]

Thanks for reminding me Gunners,I might plant an over-wintering row myself as an experiment this year.
Several years ago,at my old allotment site,'self sown' (o.k,dropped!) Broad Beans started growing on a wood-chippings path,late in the year,but I didn't look after them and they died.
Cloches might help in cutting down inevitable losses in cold weather.
What about over-wintering in a cold greenhouse?
Or is this likely to produce weak plants?

[gunners71uk]

i dunno kev outside is ok maybe put straw on them.

[kevin m.]

Well,I went and planted some Broad Beans,about three weeks ago, in an outdoor raised bed that had been previously used for Onions.
I used the variety 'Bunyard Exhibition',as I didn't have seeds of the recommended 'Aquadulce Claudia'.
I planted 16 seeds (enough for a double row),and I'm pleased to see that all of them are up now and about two inches tall.
So now it will be up to the winter weather-though it's easy enough to partly cover the raised bed with glass to make a cloche for them (the bed is made out of 2 x 3 paving slabs laid on end).
I hope that at least some of them make it through to next Spring,as Broad Beans are one of our first crops of the early Summer.

[ina]

I made the mistake of starting some off indoors for planting out in October - promptly forgot them, of course, and they are now at least half a meter long...

Maybe I can still plant them if I make the holes deep enough? I'll need a broomstick instead of a dibber!

But I also ordered some Aquadulce seeds which should be arrinving any day, so I'll stick some of them in, too. Nights are still frostfree, even if it's very uncomfortably cold during the days.

Ina

[gunners71uk]

well 16 nov and i bunged some beans in i forked it over and levelled it a bit as its not so important with beans onion sets and i have found the rain flattens soil for you, obviously when ido my seeds have to be a bit more fussy i have put 3 rows in 9 inches apart roughly 50 seeds how much will that give us there is 5 of us.i wil probaby chuck some slug pellets down (norty ) i used aquadulce you can get them from nickys seeds

[catalyst]

i put in a kilo of broad beans last week... may put in more soon.. i love em when they are young, stirfried in olive oil and soya sauce :)

[ina]

i put in a kilo of broad beans last week... may put in more soon.. i love em when they are young, stirfried in olive oil and soya sauce :)

... and garlic, don't forget garlic... Cooking them in olive oil and garlic persuaded me at first that they were edible after all. My mum always let them get too old and then just cooked them, and I hated that as child.

Ina

[catalyst]

thanks for that reminder.. i have a kilo of garlic to put in too :)

[diver]

I have planted my garlic but I would like to put some more in...some of the giant ones...is it too late

[ina]

I would give it a go - garlic needs some low temperatures to grow properly, but I think we are in for a cold winter, so we should be getting some more cold! (Last year the first snow came on Christmas eve. This year we've already had "proper" snow four times!)

And catalyst - a kilo of garlic? I've planted only a quarter of that, and my friend said she'll be careful whenever she visits me next year, that the garlic fumes don't blow her over... Knowing me, I'll probably have to buy more, anyway. Want to sow some garlic chives, too, in spring.

Ina

[catalyst]

well, i quite often use a bulb in a meal (with visitors here, maybe for 10 people)..
and i use it in practically every meal..
and we use it in our eating olives...
andy

[gunners71uk]

well my broad beans are through i had put them in on nov 16 i wonder how much advantage it is over winterin and i aint sure when i be eating them.

[ina]

I'll have to check tomorrow and see what mine are doing!!!

Ina