Posts Tagged ‘broad beans’

Growing beans is quite easy and rewards are fantastic. Being part of a vegetarian diet, beans are getting more popular year after year. You can grow runners, borlotto beans or french beans very easily even in smaller gardens, or the dwarf ones in pots on your patio or balcony. These beans need very similar conditions, while growing broad beans is completely a different matter.

Sowing:

For an earliest crop sow your bean seeds indoors at a minimum temperature of 15 Celsius, about three weeks before the last expected frost in your area. An ordinary all purpose compost is suitable for the beans, cover the seeds with as much compost as the the longest side of the seed. With other words sow the seeds as deep as big the seed is, this rule can be applied to any seeds in general.

If you growing lots of beans and do not have the space for sowing them indoors, sow the seeds outside when the temperature reaches around 15 Celsius during the day. If the seeds sown too early outside they can start rotting in the cold, wet soil. Normally late May or early June is the best time to sow outside, 15-20 cm apart. Germination takes 7-14 days, depends on variety and temperature of course.

Growing:

Runner beans and climbing french beans and borlotto beans need support. The usual choice is a wigwam especially in a smaller garden or allotment plot. Plant out the the bean plants when there is no frost expected in your area, one plant to each supporting cane. They will grow up on the poles nicely. If you grow a larger amount of beans than a twin row of canes are the perfect solution, as on the picture above. The climbing varieties are much more productive than the dwarf ones. Prepare your soil before planting out, dig a deep trench and put  in some fresh grass cuttings, shredded newspaper, then cover these and plant the beans on the top. This will provide some warmth and feed the plants as well.

Dwarf beans can be grown in larger pots, containers in your patio, or in rows about 15 cm apart.

Broad beans are ready to harvest now from an autumn sowing. These great long pods are from the Broad Bean Aquadulce, which is a very hardy variety, the standard for overwintering.

One great thing is about broad beans that they are ready to harvest in late May, when there is hardly any other veg available to pick, from an October sowing, and it is really satisfying to sow the broad bean seeds outside in the autumn. An other main reason is for the autumn sowing is to avoid the damage caused by black flies. These insects love to feed on the top of the broad beans and on the joints of the flowers, but with overwintering the plants you can easily avoid this, as the plants will flower and the pods will be ready sooner than the black flies can do any damage to the crop.
The advice is to pinch out the growing tips of the plants as soon as they are in full flower, this will help to avoid black fly attack and the plants will put their energy towards producing tastier and bigger pods rather than vertical growth.

Sowing:

Sow the broad bean seeds outside in the open ground in October-November for an early crop, under cloches in January or March-April. Alternatively the seeds can be sown inside in February and later transplanted out when the seedlings about 30 cm tall. Harden off the seedlings properly by keeping them outside during the day and putting them back inside for the night. Do this for 4-6  days before planting them outside to their final position. This is very important with the broad beans as the cold spells in March can easily damage the young, inside grown plants.
Sow the seeds in double rows 5 cm deep, 20-25 cm between the rows and leave 70-80 cm between the double rows. Plant them in blocks, this way the plants will protect each other from wind.

Growing:

Once the seeds sown the broad beans need no or little attention. Make sure they have enough water when in flower and keep them weed free. The only thing what you should do is to pinch out the growing tips when the plants are in full flower.
After harvesting the pods make sure you leave the roots in the soil as they contain plenty of precious nitrogen.