Hello Geoff
Over wintering broad beans are well worth growing and their flavour is fine when picked young. We have always grown Aquadulce and try to sow them in late September /early October but this is solely to get the early spring market when the prices are at their highest, we then follow up with latter sowings. This year due to cracks in the boilers at a local Nuclear Power station, my son is working all hours on their repair so we have abandoned any market gardening. However I have put in some rows at my allotments but the mice have also found them. We never noticed this type of loss when growing them in the fields. It was high winds that caused our losses when planting in exposed ground.
Barney
BROAD BEANS
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Cider Boys
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Compo
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Ah thanks, the Navy has a lot of sayings, and even though I used them, the meaning is not clear, the advice is great on Broad Beans. For us hobby gardeners, keeping interest on the plot is important, but last years over wintered beans were fine in flavour and are picked young to fill 'the hungry gap' although like the lady in December KG Magazine I really dont have much of a hungry gap.
Compo
Compo
If I am not on the plot, I am not happy.........
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Cider Boys
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Hello Colin
I suppose we should be worried about it because as I understand both reactors have been shutdown and this reduces the Country’s energy supply.
An electric power station (whether the water is heated by coal, gas or nuclear) is just a big steam engine that drives around a turbine electrical generator. And regular maintenance on the boilers and their tubing is of course an ongoing procedure.
The worry is that after years of Labour being anti –nuclear, Tony Blair has belatedly realised there are no realistic alternatives. Nuclear power is the only way to produce our self sufficient electrical needs with nil carbon emissions. We can of course discount wind generation as just a gimmick that the green lobby insist on clinging onto. At best wind generation is only 30-35% effective and as the wind does not blow when it is very hot or very cold, it is a fat lot of use relying on wind turbines to help us out this February.
All the best
Barney
I suppose we should be worried about it because as I understand both reactors have been shutdown and this reduces the Country’s energy supply.
An electric power station (whether the water is heated by coal, gas or nuclear) is just a big steam engine that drives around a turbine electrical generator. And regular maintenance on the boilers and their tubing is of course an ongoing procedure.
The worry is that after years of Labour being anti –nuclear, Tony Blair has belatedly realised there are no realistic alternatives. Nuclear power is the only way to produce our self sufficient electrical needs with nil carbon emissions. We can of course discount wind generation as just a gimmick that the green lobby insist on clinging onto. At best wind generation is only 30-35% effective and as the wind does not blow when it is very hot or very cold, it is a fat lot of use relying on wind turbines to help us out this February.
All the best
Barney
I don't dismiss all alternative energy sources. Have you seen the information avout power from tidal currents it is still being trialled but looks very promising and is totally predictable which is a great asset, also by having the generators distributed you can get 24 hour coverage. I hope it doesn't get forgotten through ignorance. Another neglected source of power is the many streams that used to power the mills throughout the country and were forgotten about when coal was harnessed t0 steam power in the industrial age. With modern technology they could all be fed into the grid system, and much of the water could be used too.
Allan
Allan
Has anyone read the article on renewable energy in the current Smallholders Magazine? It is very good, and puts forward the idea (which I have always thought a good one!) that power could be generated on a large scale by millions of households all feeding into the grid, each having their own small scale power source: solar power / wind turbine / waterfall / ground heat, whatever.
Alison.
Alison.
Sorry, I have just realised this is meant to be a thread about broad beans!! 
I have found that when I have forgotten to pick them and they are rather tough-skinned, it is a whole new culinary experience to skin them. The brightness of the green and the amazing tenderness and flavour is well worth the trouble, and anyway I rather enjoy the pop of each bean as it slides out the skin. Even the dullest greyest bean is rejuvenated by being skinned. I blanch them, skin them, and then toss them for a few minutes in butter, and they're done.
Alison.
I have found that when I have forgotten to pick them and they are rather tough-skinned, it is a whole new culinary experience to skin them. The brightness of the green and the amazing tenderness and flavour is well worth the trouble, and anyway I rather enjoy the pop of each bean as it slides out the skin. Even the dullest greyest bean is rejuvenated by being skinned. I blanch them, skin them, and then toss them for a few minutes in butter, and they're done.
Alison.
And they're simply delicious out of their skins in risotto. Delia has a gorgeous spring-ified recipe in her Vegetarian book....
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. The good they do is inconceivable....
Has anyone had any problems with what I would call 'black-leg' or 'foot-rot' problems with sowing Broad Beans in Root-trainers/pots in a cold greenhouse or cold frame during the Autumn before?
I've tried the preferred Autumn varieties, and sown with completely fresh compost for the last two Autumns, and have had to abandon them for a replacement Spring sowing in root-trainers/pots that were almost 100% success...
?
Any advice welcome.
I've tried the preferred Autumn varieties, and sown with completely fresh compost for the last two Autumns, and have had to abandon them for a replacement Spring sowing in root-trainers/pots that were almost 100% success...
?
Any advice welcome.
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. The good they do is inconceivable....
I have not encountered this trouble. I sow in 7 cm square pots and don't press the compost very firmly. If I had such troubles I would first suspect too much water as at this time of the year pots can go days without further water. Can you try letting them get to the first signs of wilting then let them stand in a shallow tray of water, just enough to soak right through given time. It might make the difference.
Allan
Allan
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Colin_M
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Changing the subject slightly (and since you are talking about bean problems) would you expect Field Beans (used for Green Manure) to have been affected by the recent frosts?
I have two patches:
- A newish one where the plants are only around 6-8" high
- An older one, where I trimmed the tops (they were almost 2 feet high and and I didn't want them getting too leggy during the warm parts of October)
It is the latter lot that have become blackened and wilty. I guess I must have shocked them by trimming the top few inches.
Any thoughts? Will they come back? I assumed Field Beans went right through the winter.
Colin
I have two patches:
- A newish one where the plants are only around 6-8" high
- An older one, where I trimmed the tops (they were almost 2 feet high and and I didn't want them getting too leggy during the warm parts of October)
It is the latter lot that have become blackened and wilty. I guess I must have shocked them by trimming the top few inches.
Any thoughts? Will they come back? I assumed Field Beans went right through the winter.
Colin
Hi Colin,
Field Beans do not stand the winter but they seem to be exactly as you describe them I would expect them to be. I take it that you are talking about beans grown agriculturally for animal food stuff. If this is the case why did you grow them? If it was for green manure I feel that they are not really the thing to grow and there must be something with a better return. I do hope that I am talking about the right bean.
JB.
Field Beans do not stand the winter but they seem to be exactly as you describe them I would expect them to be. I take it that you are talking about beans grown agriculturally for animal food stuff. If this is the case why did you grow them? If it was for green manure I feel that they are not really the thing to grow and there must be something with a better return. I do hope that I am talking about the right bean.
JB.
A few weeks ago I planted my beans as I was having an operation. They were Aquadulce from Kings seeds and everyone has germinated and is about 4 inches tall now. I have covered them with fleece to just keep the worst of the frosts off(if there are any!!) I sowed them 9 inches apart in two rows 12 inches apart to see what would happen, and so far it appears to have worked!!
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Cider Boys
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Hello Dopolous
I have just returned from my allotments having dug some leaks and none of my broad beans are showing yet and I noticed a lot of mice holes!
You should get a good early crop, if it is exposed you may need some support as the plants grow. As I previously mentioned this is the first year for some time we have not grown a large crop. When we do we sow quite thickly in early October and earth up the rows with a potato ridger to help support them against the winds. Next year you may consider pinching the tops off when they reach a certain maturity. I hope all went well with your operation.
All the best
Barney
I have just returned from my allotments having dug some leaks and none of my broad beans are showing yet and I noticed a lot of mice holes!
You should get a good early crop, if it is exposed you may need some support as the plants grow. As I previously mentioned this is the first year for some time we have not grown a large crop. When we do we sow quite thickly in early October and earth up the rows with a potato ridger to help support them against the winds. Next year you may consider pinching the tops off when they reach a certain maturity. I hope all went well with your operation.
All the best
Barney