(Woo, first post of 2014! Jeez I'm getting slow XDD) Anyway, yeah, last year I had a whole bunch of runner beans ('Czar', if it makes any difference, though I'm going for 'Scarlet Emperor' this year since I want red flowers,) trained up against my back wall, and various sweet peas on super tall bamboo-cane obelisks in the main bed in front of them. My question is this - will it do any harm to pretty much just have them switch places this year? I know that since they're both types of legume, it's not exactly practicing crop rotation, but I'm a bit short on places to put the sweet peas in particular that they'll enjoy as much as they did last time. Is there any particular issues I need to watch out for, or feeders I can put into the soil to boost the nitrogen back up? I know that the sweet peas went a bit mildewy and got thoroughly chewed on by aphids at the end of their run, but since that was well into mid-november I'm certainly not complaining. I try to go as organic as possible, and I'm going to be purchasing a batch of ladybugs to let free in the garden this year to hopefully combat the aphid issue.
Just had a look in the book, you could get foot rot & halo blight by growing in the same place, but i've had overwintered bean grow in the same spot without any trouble. No need to add nitrogen as the root nodules fix it from the air
I've grown Runners in the same spot for years but last year they weren't as productive as the others....i was blaming lack of pollinating insects early in the season as they did improve somewhat later on ...or did i push my luck to far?
Did you fill a trench full of kitchen waste first? Line mine with newspaper to help keep the moisture in during the summer
