Planting Broad Beans

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With the weather being fine and sunny today (though still pretty chilly), I have taken the opportunity to plant out my Broad Beans. As many of you will remember, I sowed them in those laundry-pill boxes, and raised them under cover after geminating them indoors. Today, they seemed big enough to plant out.

I have planted them in two parallel rows, each with 12 plants. I put them in quite deep, so that their roots will soon be in amongst the moist compost which is in the bottom of this bed. As you can guess from the presence of the watering-can, I also watered them in generously, in order to settle them into the soil and stop them being under too much stress as they adapt to their new homes.

Since the weather is still far from balmy, I have covered the beans with my “Longrow” cloches. These will protect them from heavy rain, strong wind or frost.

Here’s a view from inside. You’ll see that they have plenty of headroom, so they will be able to remain covered for quite a while. By the time the cloches need to come off, the plants should be well established and able to fend for themselves.

This year I am growing three different varieties of Broad Bean – “Robin Hood” (12), “De Monica” (6)  and “Masterpiece Green Longpod”  (6). Hopefully this will mean that they don’t all mature at the same time.

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