Overwintering broad beans

A forecast of wind, rain and cold meant I wasn’t planning to do much, but it turned out to be an afternoon of sun and warmth so I decided to plant some broad beans.     I wasn’t going to, but when I found a packet of Aquadulce Claudia broad beans for 99p I thought I wasn’t going to loose out on much if nothing came from it.  I planted eight seeds and popped an old plastic bottle over the top of each to keep the worst of the weather off.  I understand the survival rate of such things can be a bit hit and miss, some books suggest it isn’t really worth it, so I’ll see how it goes.  Either way, it is something in the ground.

The weather has been bad lately with biblical wind and rain, it has blown all the leafs off the trees and pushed over the sprouts quite a bit.   I staked up the sprouts and was pleased to see a reduction of white fly on some of the plants.  Some are looking like they might actually be worth picking if they continue in this way.   I staked up the kale too which were all leaning over but still looking very good.

Raspberries are still appearing, which made for a nice snack.  I did start cutting down some of them ready for the winter and my plan to dig them up, weed, put them back down in nice rows.

I didn’t pick much today because we still have a house full of carrots and turnips which are the two main crops at the moment (I couldn’t face digging up a salsify!).  I did come home with some kale and beet leaf though.

 

November and still plenty going on

 

starting to cut down the raspberries – but still lots of berries appearing each week

 

sprouts suddenly don’t look so bad, even if they are leaning over

 

tidied up sprouts – white fly reduced

 

old beds covered over with manure

 

Kale is not my favorite for eating, but it is one of the best looking plants

 

raspberries just keep on appearing

 

growing bottles…. overwintering broad beans

 

 

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