Broad Beans / Potatoes

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My 1st Broad Beans/ and some Lady Chriesti Potatoes also shown in photo some beetroot and rhubarb Potatoes were planted 14th March.

 

Dinner I have grown some broad beans this year in pots in my garden, I sowed them in April and I can just see the beans now,I think the flowers are lovely.
Next year I will sow them in the Autumn.

 

I didnt realise how quickly my 2nd earlies would be ready and earthed them up 2 weeks ago now they are just poking out the top of the soil but they have started to flower - do you think I shoud un-bury them or will they be ok?

 

Good result there Golfer

 

I am pleased with everything to date.

 

Don't un-bury them they'll be fine. Take the flowers off as they'll develop into seed and sap the plants energy away from developing the tubers.

 

Worst crop of Broad Beans ever this year!
I always grow Aquadulce Claudia, sown in early November and usually get four or five good pickings during June each year.
This year, after 3 months of relentlessly dry weather the plants were half their normal height and there were enough pods for just one picking, albeit in late May, earlier than usual.
I normally pinch the tops out to avoid Blackfly attack, but this year it simply wasn't worth it!
Still, they tasted as good as ever!

 

Mine are Aquaduice planted in Feb tere are so many on them.

 

THIS year? Mine are still only babies! How do you get bbeans and taters this early?

 

I always sow my Broad Beans directly into the ground around the first two weeks in November.
Germination is usually fairly good, they normally start to appear around Christmas time, or before if it's a mild Autumn.
This means they get a flying start in the spring and avoid the worst of the blackfly too.
It suits the conditions in my garden too, I'm on light sandy soil which loses moisture quickly if the spring is dry, which it often is here, so they get chance to grow and mature while the soil is still moist (well, they do in a normal year anyway, which this most definitely is not).

 

And they survived all the snow? So many of my shrubs and plants gave up the ghost after spending so long buried under 2 feet of snow!

Thanks for the info! I must try it this year.

 

Broad Beans are quite hardy if you choose the right variety. Aquadulce Claudia is not the most prolific variety in terms of yield, but it will survive most things an average winter will throw at it.
I did lose maybe 20% of mine last winter, but that's more than in an average year, when I'd expect to lose around 5 to 10%.