We typically make two sowings of French beans and sweetcorn, although we are making three of the latter this year. The first batch of French beans will be grown under cover for an early crop. For this purpose a dwarf bean is ideal. We are growing Beurre de Rocquencourt, a very nice yellow podded bean.… Continue reading Sowing sweetcorn and French beans
Tag: beans
Planting out: beans and tomatoes
After a little less than two weeks, our first sowing of French beans had developed into robust plants ready for planting out. It is probably a month or so too early to plant these tender crops outdoors, even here in our sheltered southerly locale. It is, though, a good time to plant in the polytunnel,… Continue reading Planting out: beans and tomatoes
Sowing this week
With April just around the corner, it was time to sow some of the tender crops, to be planted outdoors in early to mid May or in the polytunnel or glasshouses as soon as large enough. First were the French beans, Meraviglia di Venezia, a yellow climbing bean, and Beurre de Rocquencourt, also yellow, but… Continue reading Sowing this week
Recent sowing and planting
The blog has been rather slow lately, with nearly one month since my last post. Partly, at least, one must blame this lazy blogger. In my defence, we have been busy with various other things, and the garden has reached that maintenance phase where the mad rush of propagating and planting out slows down to… Continue reading Recent sowing and planting
Sowing this week
This week we started sowing more of the tender crops. We started with French bean Beurre de Rocquencourt, a dwarf wax bean bearing pale yellow pods. Whilst the outdoor crop of climbing French and runner beans will provide a heavy crop over a long period, they take some time to develop. A dwarf bean will… Continue reading Sowing this week
Seed list 2014 – part 4 – peas and beans
I am very fond of legumes of various sorts. Peas and broad beans are one of the great treats of the early season. Although they freeze well, growing enough for freezing needs a great deal of space and a lot of effort for picking and shelling. I prefer, instead, to eat them as a seasonal… Continue reading Seed list 2014 – part 4 – peas and beans
Blackfly on the broad beans
Blackfly has arrived on the outdoor broad beans. In typical fashion, there was no sign of them until, seemingly overnight, the hoards moved in and covered the top six inches or more of stem. Their arrival should not, however, cause a rush to spray with any nasty stuff as they are readily dealt with using simple organic… Continue reading Blackfly on the broad beans
Enjoying the harvest
After a slow start to the year, and with so much effort focussed on infrastructure rather than cultivation, it is good to see the harvest coming along nicely now. We have been enjoying beautiful creamy new potatoes, Sharpe’s Express and Red Duke of York, from the potato pots for some weeks. We steam these for… Continue reading Enjoying the harvest
Beans, beans, and more beans
Today was a hard one. One of the two beds designated for legumes in this rotation was previously home to overwintered leeks. The remaining few had thrown up a flower spike and the rest of the bed had become overgrown with weeds. Fortunately, most of the weeds were shallow rooted and readily pulled out –… Continue reading Beans, beans, and more beans