Broad Beans Finished

The broad beans got hacked down and dug in last weekend after yeilding just over 8kg of pods. This was from a plot around 1.5m x 1.8 m plus another row around 2m long. I don't know if this is a good yield or not but I do know I've eaten an awful lot of broad beans over the last month plus given plenty away. Broad beans must be one of the best crops to grow. Apart from supplying plenty of beans they are great nitrogen fixers and supply loads of material for the compost heap or to simply dig straight into the soil like I do. Possibly the perfect crop.



First Broad Beans

I started picking my broad beans today. The beans are mostly right up at the top of the plants leaving a couple of feet of bare stems below. Next year I might wait until August. Or at least try planting two lots a month apart and apply a bit of science to the whole enterprse. Still, for the next couple of weeks I'll get enough for a few good meals.



Quick Overview

Just a quick overview on the rest of the winter veg.
The broad beans are coming along but still no pods setting even though I planted them later than last year and they're about 80cm high.

The garlic is going well. Some of the onions have have bolted to seed though. I removed the flower heads but according to Peter Cundall they're knackered once they've done this. I'll just wait and see.

And the broccoli have done their thing and gone to seed. I've pulled these out now to prepare the bed for this year's tomatoes.





The Last Beans

The broad beans gave up their last pods this week and today I cut them down, covered the stalks in chook poo and straw the same as I did witht the peas. I think these did pretty well, and were delicious, so they will definatley be going in next year. I might plant them a bit later, end of June/early July, with the plants a bit further apart in an attmpt to increase the crop.



Beaned

I started to pick the Broad Beans today. They've come on pretty quickly since they eventually started setting pods. First meal tonight, with some pasta I think.

Broad beans

The Early Long Pod broad beans have had masses of flowers on them for a long time now and I was wondering if they were ever going to set pods. They were planted on the 7th of June and today I noticed the first couple of pods, about 17 weeks later. There is a lot of conflicting information on plant and row space affecting the time it takes to set pods, mine are 150mm apart with rows 300mm apart. I now think that the timing is about right and it's purely a temperature thing. I've also read that cutting the growing tips encourages the pods to set. I've decided not to try this and see how they get on. Hopefully now they've started the first couple of pods will be followed by a lot more.