Autumn Growing - Broad Beans

Last month I wrote a post about -
Autumn Sowing - Broad Beans.

Four weeks on - and the beans are doing well. They have almost all germinated and are growing on nicely on my St Ives Cornwall allotment.

But - as the pic shows - this weekend the bed was in urgent need of weeding - so I got that done yesterday .......

Autumn Sowing - Broad Beans

More Autumn sowing on the plot - this time Broad Beans.

Based on past experience I've found this well worth doing. The seeds germinate well, the plants get established before the Winter and they are then hardy enough to survive the cold weather.

At least - that works here in Cornwall - where we are generally blessed with milder weather than in the rest of Britain. Further north this may not apply - and it may be necessary to protect the plants with fleece or something similar.

The young plants are then well placed by early Spring - as the weather warms up - to grow on quickly and deliver an early crop of delicious beans. They will only be a few inches high but should be well rooted - and as they grow to full height I'll add some bamboo canes or netting for support.

One important thing though - you need to use a variety of Broad Bean that is suitable for Autumn and Winter sowing. The one I've chosen is Aquadulce Claudia - as I've had some success growing these is previous seasons.

So - onto the practicalities - fairly straightforward in this case.

Digging A Bean Trench

On my allotment plot near St Ives Cornwall I'm following a 4 year crop rotation system.

More details of crop rotation on a future post - but basically this year the top beds on my plot were planted with potatoes - now the beds rotate on to beans for the next year. Having the same crop on the same bed year after year (with some exceptions) can increase the risk of pests and plant diseases - and this certainly applies to potatoes.

It can also exhaust the soil - something that commercial growers overcome by adding lots of artificial fertiliser  - but I'm trying to grow organically - as far as is practically possible.

These beds were manured in early spring - but as spuds are a notoriously hungry crop and use up a lot of nutrients - its probably a good idea to replenish. Also beans love growing on rotting or rotted organic matter. Some crops - such as onions or carrots don't - so the planned beds for those will be left alone for now.

Digging a bean trench is a fairly simple job - helped by the fact that we have a manure heap on-site. Ten tons were delivered to St Ives Allotments early in the year and there is still a fair bit left. Its now really well rotted down after the best part of ten months in the sun and rain - well - mostly rain in Cornwall this year !