"Bean" a habit for so long

Still into February and I'm starting to sow more and more. Now, I'm a great fan of beans: broad, runner, French, kidney etc and this week I've started sowing broad beans.

I didn't have much success at the start of last year with my broad beans. Unfortunately fungal diseases and poor yields meant that I didn't gather the usual amount of broad beans that I'm used to, which is about 2kg each year.

One thing that broad beans will need is support. I usually use string and small canes to make supports for them. 

Broad beans
These are such great beans to grow (with exception of last year) because they are usually tough plants that have never needed much assistance from me with growing. They can get chocolate spot, which is a fungus and I've seen this on my plants once. It didn't affect them too much, but if you spot this on your broad beans it usually means that air isn't circulating around the plants very well (this was the case for me as I planted my beans far too close to each other). Aphids can be another problem but I can say that I have never had to treat my broad beans for any problems.

In the case of last year, it may well have been other factors that caused a low yield for me as there were no signs of disease in the plants on my allotment and no signs of pests. It hasn't put me off though and so the varieties I'm growing this year are:

Aquadulce Claudia
Robin Hood
Express
The Sutton

Broad beans are my favourite bean simply because they store so well. Once I've picked them I'll remove the beans from the pods and freeze those that I don't intend to use straight away. This type of bean is very popular in Poland, where my family also grows them in large quantities. They are added to soups or simply boiled as an accompaniment to any main dish. I'm the only one in my household though, that enjoys them so much. I'll boil them and then add them to a frying pan with onions, garlic and diced pancetta. Alternatively, I'll roast them in the oven with salt and/or chilli flakes. Having said that my roasting technique needs improving!

Broad beans in detail

Now that you know a little about broad beans (or fava beans in the States), I want to write a bit more in depth about them. Beans are a member of the legume family. So what are legumes? They are plants that have nitrogen fixing bacteria in root nodules. This is a symbiotic relationship (meaning that the bacteria and the bean live together in harmony). The bacteria is called Rhizobia, which makes the legume plant one that is rich in protein (hence beans being a good source of protein). Once the plant dies, the nitrogen stored in the  root nodules is released back in the soil and this is why experienced gardeners will tell you that legumes are great to grow to increase nutrients in soil.

To grow your own is easy: start off by sowing seeds in ideally in pots - small ones do - and you don't need to soak the beans overnight to do this. They should germinate in just a couple of weeks and will look like this as they start to grow:

Broad beans are fast growers, so make sure that once you see the seeds germinate that you prepare the soil beds that you will eventually move them to as soon as you can.

When you have prepared beds for the plants, broad beans depend on some support. I use a mix of canes and string, which doesn't take up too much time and isn't difficult to do, as you can see below:

One tip is that once you see pods starting to develop you should pinch out the tops. This is done for two reasons: the first is that you will be able to harvest your beans a bit earlier and secondly it's supposed to help with aphid control. As I don't like to use chemicals at all, that's why I pinch out the tops and I can honestly say that I rarely get severe aphid problems. The tops can be coked and eaten, or if you keep poultry it may be worth saving the tops for your chickens and ducks. Over the growing season keep your beans free from competitive weeds (a little gentle hoeing could help), water them but you'll find that you don't need to feed them (remember those Rhizobia bacteria - they will help give your beans the nutrients they need).

I hope that this article is useful - it's not too late to start sowing broad beans but you can always start late in the year like November to get more broad beans in succession for next year!

Let's talk tomatoes

It's February, it's still cold and yet now is the time to start sowing tomato seeds!

As always I start off sowing using heated propagators because you'll find that without the extra warmth you won't get tomato seedlings for a long while. Seeds will come to life when the soil is the right temperature and you can do this a few ways:

Heated Propagators  - these will require electricity to work

Sowing indoors - There are window sill seeds trays in so many shops this year and you could grow from seeds and cuttings in the warmth of your house this time of year.

Heated Beds - I did try to grow seeds in raised beds a couple of years ago, which had lots of fresh poultry manure dug in. The plan was to try and increase the soil temperature from the manure rotting away from below (a Victorian method) but alas this didn't work for me. I'd suggest that you'd need a big greenhouse and lots of manure to try this method.

So this year I'm growing several varieties of tomatoes. This is because I want to maximise my productivity. My children enjoy all different colours of tomatoes (when on holiday in France they loved picking orange, green and black toms off the supermarket shelves) so I want some different colours for salads. I've also chosen some large, fleshy varieties for bottling up for the winter, meaning I'll still be using home grown tomatoes for meals long after the growing season.

Orange, black and green tomatoes with radishes - my kids loved these when we were in France

How to choose the right tomato for you

You might find that when you're looking at buying tomato seeds or plug plants that they come in two categories: determinate and indeterminate but what does this mean?

Determinate: this means that the plant is a bush variety and will stop growing at a certain height, producing several fruit from it's branches. What'll happen is once fruit starts forming the plant will stop growing.

I love growing determinate tomatoes in hanging baskets in the garden, such as cherry varieties, which are great for salads and accompaniments to all sorts of food. Tumbling Tom is a good cherry variety, which I grow both the red and yellow colours.

Indeterminate: these are the tomato plants that will grow for as long as the weather allows them. I grow indeterminate tomatoes in my polytunnel, using string to support them. Usually, the varieties of indeterminate toms that I like to grow are larger fruit such as the fleshy Marmande and some plum tomatoes. One indeterminate that has always been a success for me is Money Maker.

Indeterminate tomatoes will need support while they grow. Canes (as seen above) are a simple, reliable method. 

When choosing which tomato plant you want to grow have a think about what you want. Do you want a salad crop? Are you into small tomatoes or do you prefer the large fruits that have less seeds? What space do you have for growing tomatoes? Limited spaces usually mean that small determinate plants would be better but then maybe you feel you can train an indeterminate like the big commercial growers do, making plants grow in circles.

Fancy growing tomatoes like a commercial grower? They use indeterminate varieties that are grown under glass, circling around long lines, producing tonnes of fruit every year. The crates pictured above are just some picked from one line. 

Once you've decided what you want to eat, go get those seeds and sow them! You don't have to start early as I have, especially if you don't want the added cost of using heated propagators. You can sow your seeds under glass or on a window sill in March and still enjoy tasty fruits over the summer.