Grow French/Dwarf beans from seed

SOIL

French (or Dwarf) beans will grow alright in most soils, as long as they are not too heavy or too acid.

Do not sow where beans have been grown in the previous year.

Dig in the autumn and add compost or well rotted manure. Add lime in the winter if necessary.

Rake over and prepare the site about 2 weeks before planned sowing, and at this time add a general purpose fertiliser.

SOWING

Mark rows out as required at 18" spacings. (successional sowings from May to the end of June will provide beans until October.

Sow the seed 2" deep and 4" apart in each row.

If an earlier crop is required, cover the rows with cloches in March, and sow the seed under them in early to mid April, removing the cloches in late May.

For a later crop, sow the seed as above in July, and cover the plants with cloches in September.

The seed WILL rot if the soil is too damp and/or cold.

PLANT CARE

Seedling need to be protected from slugs (and pigeons?). Hoe to keep weeds down while the plants are young.

Some support may be needed to prevent the plants from flopping over. This can be something like twiggy sticks(or even 2 foot flower sticks (green canes)) pushed in alongside the plants, or provide netting for the climbing varieties.

It is not necessary to spray the flowers to set them, but water will be needed when the pods start developing. This will ensure a longer harvest, so if the weather is very dry, supply frequent, regular, and copious amounts of water.

It may be possible to get a second crop from your plants, if you mulch them in June, and apply a liquid fertiliser when the first crop has ended.

HARVESTING

Start picking the pods when they get to 4-5" long. Gently bend a pod, and if it snaps, they are ready for picking. Try to pick them before you see signs of the beans inside swelling, and pick regularly, as any pods left to mature will stop production. You should be able to harvest from each sowing for 5 to 7 weeks.

Be careful when pulling the pods from the plants, as you may break the main stem, or even uproot the plant. Maybe a pair of scissors would be useful here?

SOME FACTS

Seeds should germinate in around 7 to 14 days.

1 ounce of seed should be enough for a 20 foot row.

This is approximately 60 seeds.

From bush varieties expect to harvest about 14 pounds of pods from a 20 foot row.

From climbing varieties expect to harvest around 20 pounds of pods from a 20 foot row.

From sowing to harvest, expect about 10 to 12 weeks.

Grow Broad Beans from seed

Aquadulce Claudia and The Sutton

Can be sown in NOVEMBER for a crop which will be ready for harvesting in JUNE. There can however be problems if the winter is severe, so if you want an early crop, it may be better to sow under cloches in FEBRUARY. Although it may be that autumn sowing avoids the dreaded blackfly.
Other varieties are normally sown from the beginning of MARCH, and then succussionally at 4 week interval until the end of MAY. This should providea crop from late JUNE until early SEPTEMBER, and possibly up to OCTOBER.

SOIL

Broad Beans prefer a rich, well drained soil, but good results can be achieved if the soil is neither waterlogged or to acid, regardless of type. If necessary soil can have LIME added in winter

Do not grow your broad beans where beans have been grown in the previous year. Pick a reasonably sunny spot, and dig in the autumn adding compost or well rotted manure if necessary. Lime in winter, and 1 week before sowing, rake in a general purpose fertiliser.

SOWING

Firstly, avoid sowing seed with small holes in.

Mark out 2 rows, 8" apart, and with a dibber, make holes every 8", and 2" deep, staggering in each side of the double row. Drop 1 or 2 seeds in each hole, and cover with soil.

If another double row is to be sown, leave a 24" gap between each set of double rows, and so on. This is also done for successional sowings.

PLANT CARE

Regular hoeing will be needed to eliminate weeds during early growth, but not much watering will be necessary (unless the weather is exceptionally dry) before the flowers appear.

However, if the weather is very dry when the pods start growing, then regular (and lots of) watering will be necessary

For the taller varieties (ie not dwarf), it would be best to provide support for each double row. Place stout stakes at each corner of the double row,(and midway along if the row is long) and tie strings around them at 10-12" intervals vertically.

As soon as the first pods appear (at which time there should be 4 trusses of flowers), pich out the top 3-4" of the stem. This should give an earlier harvest, and hopefully provide somecontrol over blackfly.

If blackfly do become a problem, then you must spray (whatever your method of insect control)to keep the infestation under control.

When cropping is over, dig the plants i to provide extra green manuring.

HARVESTING

I you like the whole pods cooked, then start picking when they are about 2-3" long.

For shelling beans, they are ready when the beans separate from the pod and have a green/white scar. If the scar is black, the bean will be tough.

SOME FACTS

Seeds should germinate in 7-14 days

4 ounces of seed shoud be enough for a 20 foot double row

This is around 60 seeds

From an autumn sowing expect around 26 weeks to harvest

From spring sowings expect around 14 weeks from each sowing to harvest

You could expect to get atround 40 pounds of pods from a 20 foot double row.

Planting at the allotment.

Well, over the last couple of weeks, I have managed (with help from my wife), to dig a little of the plot, and we have managed to get the broad bean plants in, and some more sown. Also, the garlic is in, and half of the onion sets,(all three brought on in pots at home) and most of the early potatoes. Oh and half a dozen Chard plants (strictly for the wife, as I hate it).
Earlier we had managed to get the fruit bushes in at the front of the plot. Black and redcurrants, gooseberries, and rhubarb all growing well. There was already an established bed of autumn raspberries, and a couple of thornless blackberries further up the plot, both of which I severely cut back in February, in an attempt to be able to train them on wires instead of just flopping wherever they felt. We bought a few summer rasperries, but these are being brought on in a container for this year, along with another gooseberry plant.
It's been too hot for me to consider doing any serious digging, but our next door plot neighbour has offered to do a bit for us every time he goes to his plot. Apparently our plot, although worked on by the previous tenant, (in his eighties) has only been dug in dribs and drabs, wherever he wanted to grow something. Last time we went up to water what is already in, it looked like he had actually dug about another 4 feet for us. Not only dug, but also broken up and raked level. BLESS HIM. I still have to dig the bean trench and get shredded paper and composted farmyard manure into the bottom, AND put up their canes. At least when that's done, from a distance it will be more obvious that something is being done. I think we might end up spraying roundup over a lot of the top of the plot, and then covering it with a tarpaulin until the autumn digging season starts ready for next year.
At the moment, I can't actually do a lot of digging because of my knees. (Still waiting to hear from the hospital, when I am to go in for surgery on my left knee). I work for 10 mins and then have to sit down for 10. Even using a terrex fork/spade,(So I can keep both feet on the ground, I push it down with my body weight) is hard work, and I always end up with bruises all over my upper body.
The greenhouse is now groaning with the weight of things at various stages, being prepared to go in up at the plot. Carrots have been sown in the raised bed at home, and the strawberries are in the other bed. This last weekend, I put the toms for the greenhouse into their final containers, and my wife prepared the bed for the ones which will be going out alongside the greenhouse.(A bit too early yet to actually plant them out). There are runners, dwarf beans, various cabbages, more toms, cues, caulis, broccoli, calabrese, peas in toilet roll tubes, all just staring to sprout. There's dahlias begonias and various other tender flowering plants being started off in there too.
We also have 2 of the 4 tier shelf units , which are also laden with hardier stuff.
Meanwhile, I have commited to putting a new border in the garden, but have the same problem digging wise, so that is taking ages, especially as the area was a bed of couchgrass before, so I am painstakingly trying to remove all the roots, and the bed is raised, so I am having to import soil from other parts of the garden.
Enough for now, I'm of to watch "The Big Dig".

Further to March thought about rain.

It's now April 23rd, and to my recollection we have had NO rain now for about 4 weeks. The ground up at the plot, having been saturated in March and then rapidly dried out, is now like concrete. Thinking about hiring a breaker to start off any further digging.

Might be a little better now, since we did actually have a tiny drop of rain today. Mind you, it wasn't enough to make any visible difference to the water levels in the water butts.

A few April Photos of the garden.

The rockery 7 weeks on.

Strawberry bed, new this year. One solitary flower so far. A 1 mt square raised bed made from recycled plastic.

Hostas, in a container, with some Jersey Lilies, and so far not a sign this year of slug damage. Thinking it's maybe been too dry for the slugs to appear yet?

Acer Palmatum Dissectum. Growing in a half barrel, this specimen is about 10 yrs old, and this year has grown approx. 50% bigger than last year. It is now around 4ft across. It also has an abundance of flower buds this year. Last year I spotted a few "winged seeds", but never saw the flowers. Back right is the new border, still a work in progress.

Dessert apple Greensleeves. This plant was bought last year, and is growing in a huge container. last year it bore 14 apples. Loads more blossom this year.

The first rose? This is Canary Bird, always the 1st rose to flower in my garden. As you can see, it's a single rose. This is about 8 ft tall, also about 10 yrs old, and is planted against a north facing fence (the same one that's behind the rockery).

Ceanothus (Californian Lilac), also about 10 yrs old, and now in full bloom. It's about 6 weeks early this year, as it doesn't normally flower until June. Hopefully, as it is so early, we may get a second flowering in September. Underneath it are potatoes growing in old compost sacks x7, and various other smaller shrubs in containers. The holly in the foreground is the same age as the Ceanothus, and also in bud. The Ceanothus has a "haircut" every Spring, when I remove a lot of the downward growing branches from the lower parts.

New Bed

A couple of weeks ago, browsing through the Argos catalogue, I found that they had an offer on some edging. It's like 6" logroll to look at, but is rigid, 1metre 2cms long. I had been planning for some time to create a new bed on the north side of the garden (south facing fence), next to the decking, which is less shady than the other side.The south side of the garden is overshadowed by a 6ft+ high fence. (see photographs of the rockery)
Anyhow, I duly purchased 2 packs of the edging, 2 pieces in each, and set about creating the bed. Originally planned to be 2mts long by 1mt deep, this would have left me with one piece of edging left over. (What would I do with one odd piece of edging?) so I changed the plan and it became 2mts square.
Firstly I had to remove all of the weeds (including the dreaded Couchgrass) from the area. No mean task when your normally supported on at least one crutch. I dug the whole area out to a depth of about 12", stacking the soil to one side, then hammered in the 4 pieces of edging. I then covered the inside of the edging pieces, the fence and the edge of the deck, with a layer of damp proof material, as the soil level is going to be 6" higher. The whole area was then covered in landscape fabric, stapled in position, and I set about refilling.
I sieved all of the soil from the hole to remove the worst of the weed roots, also added some sieved ash from previous bonfires(also sieved) and a bag or two of multipurpose compost. Then I had to set about digging soil from a mound in the garden (spoil from the footings for the conservatory, which has been there for years, the rest of which will eventually be spread out to level the garden). This also needed to be sieved. Any weeds that reappear afterwards can easily be treated to a dose of Roundup.
As a result, we will, when it's finished, have a nice new flower bed, in which it is planned to have (for starters) a climbing rose in each of the back corners(Schoolgirl and Golden Showers), with a pink Jasmine going up a fan trellis in between them. I also have several large Dahlias to plant, and some 50 or so gladioli. For this year, I will also sow several swathes of various annuals, and maybe a row of bedding Begonias along the front.
Pictures to follow when it's all planted up.

The Rockery,Early March

Three photographs of the Rockery, taken today 6/3/07. Has Spring sprung?

Todays update

Well the onion sets and garlic are ready to go in, but the ground is SO wet after the weekend rain, that I don't think I can get them planted just yet.
Most of the tomatoes are now germinated, or at least some of each type sown, and I now have 7/10 Chinese snake cues up.
Most of the mussel burgh leeks are through too, but only a few of the Lyon.
Won't need to transplant the tarvoy and perpetual spinach into pots, as they were sown individually into root trainers.(Trying them for the first time this year)
Still no show for anything else in the greenhouse. I can only presume that it's still too cold out there despite having a gaz lantern burning all night.
Have today planted up 2 self-watering troughs (ex Lidl) with lilies, cannas, and fresia bulbs. I'm told that the latter are hard to grow, so we shall see. They have been kept in the greenhouse until it's safe to put them outside too.

Slug deterrent

In the Sunday Express today, there was a Suttons catalogue. Near the back was a thing called a slug collar, basically a ring of copper placed around the base of vulnerable plants. The price was prohibitive though at £24.00 for 6 of the 7" ones, and £19.00 for 6 of the 4" ones.
So I had a brilliant idea. Get some 8mm soft copper tube, cut into lengths of around 21" and find something to fit inside it. Then bend into a circle using the plug to join the ends together. There you have a much cheaper copper collar, of around 7" in diameter. (Sorry Suttons' Seeds)

Labour saving?

Went to Lidl today for the first time, and found an excellent labour saving device, for £2.95.
It is a seed sowing implement, consisting of 2 small bowls/cups, attached to a hand grip. One of the bowls is closed, and the other has a funnel shaped bottom with a long aluminium tube, and it weighs next to nothing in your hand.
What you do, is fill the closed bowl with the seed you want to sow, place the tip of the tube on the gound where you want the seed to go, and then just flick a few seeds into the funnel bowl. Move the tube along and repeat. It's such a simple idea, why haven't I seen anything like it before? Probably will save a lot of bending when sowing, and hopefully a lot of thinning out with things like carrots and lettuce etc..
The tube is even big enough to allow the passage of seeds as big as peas, but not runner beans, although french beans may pass through it. I'll have to let you know on that one.

The home garden

Yesterday, I manged to get a few jobs done around the garden at home, while the OH was out shopping with our youngest daughter and her kids. Firstly I gave the Ceanothus its annual trim (removing the lower branches that hang downwards), and created a couple of hanging points at the same time, for the bird feeders.
I weeded in between the Aqualegias, which are now growing again.
I raised the level of the underneath of my Canary Bird rose, to give the Aqualegias a little more light.
Trimmed the dead wood from the herbs in the planter wheel, and the Hydrangea, and several other shrubs which are still in pots.
Weeded around the acers, and the wisteria, which are all also in large pots, and the planters with Queen of the night tulips in.
Started to tidy up the rockery (photo later if it ever stops raining), and then was forced indoors when the heavens opened again.

Old seed experiment update.

As of today, of the 11 seeds which I put in the tray, 5 have the radicals growing, and 1 has gone rotten(all slimy on the outside, and putrid smelling). Still hoping for more, as it's the smaller ones which have germinated first.

Seeds sown so far update

Well as of today, there are 5/10 Gardeners Delight Toms up, but no sign of any of the other toms.
15/20 of the sweetcorn Lark F1 are up, but again no sign of the other sweetcorn.(Golden Bantam)
The leeks are just beginning to show, but there were a couple of seedlings up which didn't look like leeks. I left them until the leeks appeared just in case, but since they bore no resemblance, have now removed them. (Odd since I sowed all cells individually)
4 of the Chinese Snake cues are trying to appear, but no sign of the others which are in the g/house.
The Tarvoy cabbages and perpetual spinach are now coming through, with about 75%germination, and they ARE in the g/house.
Yesterday, I sowed another packet of sweet peas, 12 Giant Sunflowers, and a packet of Italian White multi-headed sunflowers.)Approx 11 seeds in a packet from AlanRomans that said Ave contents 40 Grrr!!!)

SUNDAY MARCH 4th,
What an awful day. They said on the television this morning, if you need to do anything outdoors, get it done this morning. By the time I had finished breakfast at 9.30, it was pouring with rain, and it just seemed to get harder and harder as the day went on.
The garden has turned into a quagmire, so I hate to think what conditions are like up at the allotment.

Here is an Amarylis Apple Blossom in flower at Christmas 2005.

The seed area in the conservatory.

Here are a couple of views of the seed area in the conservatory. Its the lightest place in here because the window here is south facing. However we still have the problem of having to turn everything round daily once they become seedlings. The tray with every pot labelled is the one with the toms in, 10 of each of 4 different varieties. The leeks are in the little cell trays, 63 each of Musselburgh and Lyon.

Its now March 4th, Sunday and today in the area above, we have 15/20 Sweetcorn Lark F1 up, 5/10 Gardeners Delight Toms, 4 Chinese Snake Cues, and the leeks are just starting to show.

Oh and 3 of the sweetpeas have decided to start also. The GD are the nearest to the camera, as are the sweetcorn Lark in the next tray!!!

Re: Cold Frame

Have today found a local supplier for Gravel boards to make the carcass, at a cost of £1.40 +VAT for each 6ft length.

A quick calculation suggests I'll probaly need 11 boards, 3 for the back, 2 for the front and 3 for each side. So that's gonna be £15.40 +vat + whatever 2"x2" for the corners.

Not bad eh? A six by four coldframe for under 20 quid.

Cold Frame

I have an old secondary double glazing frame, complete with 3 panels of framed glass, and am thinking of using it for the top of a cold frame up at the plot.

As it's about 6ft by 4ft, it should turn out as quite a large one. Plenty of room for early sowing of crops.

Got to get hold of some decent timber for the carcass for it now.

Re: Old Seed

Seed has been in damp tissue now for around 24 hours, and has swollen to twice its size.

Looks promising so far.

Old seed found in the shed

When we took over our plot, we found a lot of seed which had been saved from previous years' crops, by the last tenant. Some of it was marked with the year it was saved, and the type of produce. It was all bean seeds of various type.

Looking at the dates on some of the packages/old envelopes, (one said saved FOR 1999)I decided that they probably would no longer be viable seed, so I threw them all(along with some older seed we still had at home), into one large envelope, with a view to feeding them to the birds or something.

Any way, I asked on Allotments4All if this was possible by maybe chopping them up in the food processor and soaking them. Somebody posted back a suggestion that I should try putting a mixture of them onto wet tissue and cover them similarly, to see what happens. So......that is what I did last night. They are in a meat tray on the kitchen windowsill.

Now awaiting the results..................we shall see?