Grow Your Own Magazine

Isn't it always the case that you read something somewhere and 'absorb it' and then, later, you recall it.

Having read it, you wondered if it were true, and then, appropriately, you tell someone else about it.

Specifically, I read that Climbing French Beans don't fix Nitrogen into the soil via their root nodules as Runner Beans do, and that got me wondering.
So, don't they at all? and if not, why not? And if Runner Beans do, will my Borlotti Beans? and what about my Black Turtle Beans that I've planted under the sweetcorn, or the ever-popular Broad Beans. Are they?

I've been trying to learn as much as I can from every source available in the last 5 or 6 years, and I thought I was doing OK.
How on earth are new vegetable growing generations supposed to cope with 'haphazard' information about growing such as this being 'bandied about'.

I put the question to 'Elderly Next Door' this evening, and he had 'never heard such a thing'.

Any similar stories to tell?

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com
P.P.Pick Up A Penguin?
Blob Updated Sunday 21st December '08

Always asumed that ALLlegumes fixated nitrogen?

Only one I can categorically, unequivocally and definitely 100% confirm is Broad Beans! Mine have huge tap roots covered with fixated nitrogen granules/globules!
My other beans are a bit young to dig up and check but I imagine they will be the same!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

There is an enormous amount of guessing, assuming and misinformation in the gardening world... but isn't that half the fun!?!

Don't take anything as gospel - try it and see for yourself. If you are suspicious of something, check the information in some other places.

I have some books by people that we would consider to be gardening gurus and I know there is stuff in them that just isn't true. Sometimes this is because they have been told this and never questioned it, sometimes genuine mistakes are made...

And it gets passed on, and on, and on...

The more you read about gardening (and the more you read about the associated science), the more you can start to see where the cracks might lie.

In the meantime, do what works for you - don't worry about whether it should or shouldn't.

Sometimes, ignorance (and misinformation) is bliss

Oh, sorry, about the beans...

I have also read about some french beans being different. Remember that much of what we are fed in magazines and books is necessarily simplified for the intended audience and it could be that, in this case, there are some varieties or situations in which the nitrogen fixation is reduced - perhaps it's so rare that its not normally worth mentioning.

Or it could be a mistake.

I'll have a hunt around in some botanical texts and see what I can find out.

An old sage once said to me

"believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see"

Its a great adage for gardening and indeed life itself.

__________________
Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

It's quite funny when you start researching an issue like this - you realise how easy it is to get the wrong end of the stick. Fortunately, 9 times out of 10, getting the "why" bit screwy doesn't affect the result, so it's not a problem.

I've just read that beans "grab nitrogen from the air"... imagine how a child would draw this! he he!

a "gardening expert" its his job gave me a tip, if you put a pilchard under your sweetcorn when planting out they grow like madHe swears he heard it on gardeners question time, but i am sure it must have been April the 1St has anyone else heard of this??

No. And can you imagine what the local cats must do! lol!

On the bean thing...

I am as sure as I can be that all legumes are capable of fixing nitrogen.

This doesn't mean it will happen, however, as the right bacteria need to be present, but in general it does occur.

It appears that broad beans are the best at it and this is put down to the length of their growing period. French beans do not fix as much, but they can fix.

How's that?

Lightning will 'fix' Nitrogen! the only good thing about it, nasty distructive stuff!
on the whole! the lightning that is.

Lightning will "fix" a lot of things!