Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi guys.
I've not been to the allotment for a while as I've been poorly with the flu, and I've not got round to doing my bean trench.....am I too late - shall I just plant them in the soil when its time or is it worth starting a trench now do you think

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smiling is infectious....

http://www.thehudsonallotment.blogspot.com/ updated 28th May 2008

dont know the 'proper' answer to this vicki but if its any consolation i only dug mine a week ago and put some rotted manure in the bottom and am now throwing in kitchen waste as & when. as beans dont go out until quite late here may/june thought i'd be ok unless one of you tells me otherwise

Oodles of time, like HM say Start worrying in May!

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SSx
not every situation requires a big onion

brilliant! thanks for that - I'll get onto it right away!
will be doing wigwam supports so I'm guessing I dig a big square/round trench instead of the usual long one?

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smiling is infectious....

http://www.thehudsonallotment.blogspot.com/ updated 28th May 2008

wot - like a moat?!

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 20/12/2008......End of year report - plot d (legumes)!.....

"GET OFF MY BEANS!!!!!!!"

We did ours a few days ago, put shredded newspaper in the bottom, well rotted on top and refilled with soil, about 14" deep. Hope it works.

I had a very poor crop of beans last year, but just put them in the soil and didn't water them enough.
Hoping for mega-beans this year (got to keep Bubblewrap in fuel!)

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Regards, Jane
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? The creative adult is the child who has survived.
Ursula LeGuin
http://www.etribes.com/madderbat

My beans were rubbish last year, but then so was everything else - due to moving house and not watering enough during the drought. Bean trenching helps to keep water in the soil: every little helps

Last year I grew my runner beans in a container 2x2x2. filled with compost from a growbag and manure. I made a wigwam in the container and planted 8 beans. We had all the beans we could eat and some for the freezer. I'll be growing them in the ground this year (kitchen garden underway) but the container method could be useful for anybody who wants beans in a small space. I put a stay round the wigwam and fastened it to a wall so that it couldn't blow over.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Bean trench can be dug any time during winter/early spring. If you have well rotted compost or manure, put this in (fork in to mix). Top off with veggie peelings etc until about April. Cover with soil and leave to rot down. I've found that my beans do better if germinated in pots under cover and planted out when big enough to "look after themselves". I put some direct into the lottie last year and not one of them came up. Good job I had reserves in pots.

am giving the trench thing a try this year myself, got as far as laying cardboard on bottom and laying over kitchen scrapes all along it. hope to get manure on next week, but always start my beans in pots

I dont normally start my trench off until April, as I'm only sowing the seeds in May and I grow them in roottrainers first, so its really end of May before they go into the ground. How deep should your trench/moat be? I think I may have dug down a bit too far last year! and wondered whether the roots actually made it!

Jennie, dig your trench about one spit deep (the depth of a spade - approx 12 inches) - this should be sufficient. For growing up wigwams dig your hole about 18" square and 12" deep. For growing up criss-crossed canes, you can dig one trench 12" deep and 18" wide or two narrower trenches - this year I shall mainly be cheating and using a mini-digger for my trenches!!

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

Last year I must have got about 10 runner beans in total out of about 20 plants. But I didn't really water them as much as I should have and I misread my Joy Larcom book, so instead of digging a trench and putting strawy manure in, I put straw!! I realised I'd misread it when I wondered what I was doing wrong and went back to the book!
I haven't prepared my trench this year yet and probably won't until the beginning of March. I'm still digging trying to get rid of the bindweed...

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*Feather*

thanks guys! I shall make a start on it this weekend I think.
Please please please let the rain stay away!

can I ask how many canes is best to use for a wigwam? don't want to overcrowd it!

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smiling is infectious....

http://www.thehudsonallotment.blogspot.com/ updated 28th May 2008

You guys on here are mind readers !!!

I was thinking about this bean trench busness and thinking I could put some cardboard in - sort of recycling it again as i used it to covered the weeds.

then i was going to ask how deep to dig it and read SR message

Thank you everyone - guess what i doing later if the weather stays good

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Denise xox

Learn from the mistakes of others because you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself.
-- Alfred E. Neumann
http://irchesterplot.blogspot.com

Thanks SR, that's really useful advice.

I started my beans in loo rolls last year, they did ok, but I was advised that it is important to cut up the loo roll prior to planting out as the cardboard roll can restrict the root system.

Hi. This is my first post but I want to share what i consider to be my only real success on my weedpatch/allotment which I have had nearly a year now. My runner beans did fab even though everything else struggled with the weeds and I put it down to the fact that even though I planted them into un-enriched clay I mulched them heavily with news paper with soil over the top. They got watered about twice a week and even on the hottest days under the newspaper it stayed cool and moist. This year I have been making a bean trench but I will still do the newspaper mulch, it kept them weedfree except for a bramble.

Hi Poozie! Welcome to the madhouse! Thanks for the tip!

does the bean trench thing apply to french beans and peas as well as runner beans?

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smiling is infectious....

http://www.thehudsonallotment.blogspot.com/ updated 28th May 2008

If you want flatted down cardboard boxes, then try your local Tesco's or Halfords, they have loads in the skips! At Tesco's just ask for the back door manager, at Halfords just ask for a supervisor!

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Some things in their natural state have the most VIVID colors
Dobby

Here in Spain my runner beans were rubbish! I planted them April (which was probably a little late here) I’m going to try a different approach this year. I think I´ll start some of in pots today!
1. Dig a trench with added kitchen waste
2. Plant white flowered varieties for better pollination
3. Plant them as early as I can
Hope this works!!
One question, If I keep adding waste to the trench, come planting time does it matter If it’s not rotted down

How do people get on with digging a bean 'trench'
a, if you want to use wigwams so need more of a circle rather than a trench
b, have oblong raised beds.
I don't hink I've got anywhere to store the soil from the trench digging, I've already got a mound to one side of the greenhouse from where I've dug two trenches to put the asparagus crowns when they come.