Broad Beans

Hmmm. Think I already know if this is going to have worked. :dh:

We have had a REALLY severe frosts round here - down to minus 7 - and my plants outside in the ground, in a cold frame AND in a pot are all looking like they will die

Mind you - my onions I planted out at the same time are still looking fine :yho:

Brian

 

I find broad beans require a lot of effort for a relatively small yield so I just grow a few for eating young, in the pod (delicious - akin to asparagus!). For the beans themselves I find that frozen ones are quite acceptable and reasonably cheap and I prefer to use the space for runners and french beans.

 

Well my beans are cetainly frozen - but I'm sure that's not what you meant :hehe:

 

Brian - I left myself wide open to that one!

 

Hi folks. Well, credit where it's due, Dai was right. Pretty much all my beans were destroyed by the heavy frosts :( Maybe in winters that we normally get, they'd have been fine, but not this year. Ah well, live and learn. It just means I now have to re-sow which I'll be doing in 2 weeks. Cheers...freddy.

 

I planted broad beans last october however we had so much frost killed them all have some more in pots now will put them in around four weeks time never mind win some lose some i guess.

 

Hubby planted Broad Beans last October and when the frosts started he covered them loosely with bits of plastic.
We too have had very hard frosts but they all survived and are now grown to about 5".
Also going to plant a second lot soon but they of course will be much later.

With tonight's dinner we have tinned broad beans which taste very good - better than frozen ones I think :D

:thmb:

 

Here are some of the broad beans that were planted last October - coming along nicely!
As we had a bit of frost last night and maybe the same tonight they are being covered
until the morning.

Anybody else got some that have survived the winter?

 

Nice reading when folks report back and are prepared to share the bad and good parts of gardening we all learn something from it. It was a long hard winter and likewise lots of frost damage to beans. However undeterred, I will be gardening tomorrow in my new Dunlop wellingtons, well preparing anyway

 

I have never grown broad beans before, so I bought 6 Broad bean plants late last october and during the winter all but 1 have been killed off, so I have now sown some in toilet roll tubes to plant out when ready. do you think this will work ? or should I plant the seed straight out in the ground.

 

I always plant them in "pots", so I reckon you will be fine. Don't let them have too much greenhouse / conservatory / windowsill Love and Attention as they need to be kept pretty hardy.

My Autumn sown ones looked pretty dead, but I notice that they are making a bit of a come-back, so perhaps don't give up on your Winter ones yet?

 

Hi folks. Well, I sowed my b/beans in those root trainer thingies around 2 weeks ago, and it seems like EVERY ONE of them germinated and will soon be ready for planting out. Cheers...freddy.

 

I put some in a tub on damp kitchen paper 2 days ago, and have potted up today. There was one bean which was broken in half, and I though I had been swizzled, but it germinated along with the rest!

 

Yikes ! Went out there this morning intending to put my b/beans outside to harden them off a bit, whereupon I discovered that the main root had already started growing into the floor of my greenhouse. I had no Idea the roots grew so quickly.Well, there was nothing for it but to plant them out now. Hopefully, should be ok. A lesson learned though, next year I'll use the cores out of kitchen rolls :thumb: Cheers...freddy.

 

I love broad beans and I know I'm in another 'world' here and 'climate' but we went over to our permaculture/eco friends' house for the weekend and I was shocked at the number of broad bean plants he had .... all ripe for the pickin which he planted in October he said.

Turns out he has never watered them (he is not on mains and only uses rainwater) but we have just gone through one of our wettest winters in 15 years so no need for watering such like.

It seems a popular plant here as many gardens/fields are filled with them at the moment ... but they do make lovely soups and stews with broad beans here.