Bean trenches

**Bren In Pots** · 08-08-2014, 03:22 PM

I don't bother with a trench I just add some compost from my bins then plant my beans.

here's an older thread for you to read :-

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...nch_77221.html

**andy_j** · 08-08-2014, 04:02 PM

I dug out two trenches, a spit deep and as long as you need and filled the lot with well rotted cow poo. I did this last Autumn. I then covered the cow poo with the soil....creating a mound, and left it until spring when i planted the bean plants straight into the trench.

**Thelma Sanders** · 08-08-2014, 04:42 PM

When I tip out the compost Dalek - all the stuff that hasn't rotted yet, usually old cabbage stems and the like, gets put in the bean trench - plus old newspapers that have been soaked, cardboard and winter kitchen waste.

It's about a foot deep and as long as my bean frame - I do the same for both sides

**Martin H** · 08-08-2014, 05:39 PM

I don't bother. I plant the beans in the normal unimproved soil, bury a plastic bottle neck down in the middle of the wigwam and water through that every time I go to the plot. This makes sure the roots have lots of water without the bother of trenches full of old rags or whatever.

The beans still shoot up to the top of the canes in no time, that's all the growth I need.

**Greenleaves** · 08-08-2014, 06:52 PM

Gave up on trenches as I don't think it makes any difference to my crop. That said if you have very dry soil it will help with moisture retention

**arpoet** · 08-08-2014, 07:24 PM

I have grown runner beans in the same place for donkeys years. A double row of 15 plants per side. After the first frost blackens the plants I remove the canes and leave the plants to rot down with the roots still in.
In the spring I dig a trench and fill it with shredded paper, compost and rotted hos muck and top its off with the soil I removed and tramp it down. I then cover with thin cardboard and spent hops. I don't put up the canes until a week before the first plants are ready to go out.
Never had a problem and always get good crops.

**Two_Sheds** · 08-08-2014, 07:48 PM

Originally posted by noviceveggrower View Post

Does anyone do these trenches?

Nope.

I did a trial one year, a few years ago, and found absolutely no benefit to them, in fact they were a nuisance. As the stuff rotted, the soil level sank, and I ended up with bumpy unlevel ground.

These days I just plant the beans in my normal soil, which is mulched with weeds, old plants and green manures.

**chris** · 09-08-2014, 03:32 PM

I'm the only one on my site who doesn't (mainly as I can't be bothered digging). As long as you can give them adequate water when starting off I don't see any difference. I fact I had a 7 cane wigwam out grow a whole row of one of the miserable
Old so and so's runners last year, just by watering when I planted out and then once they'd set flowers I threw a whole trug stuffed with rotted comfrey around the base.

Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum mobile app

**Scarlet** · 09-08-2014, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by Greenleaves View Post

Gave up on trenches as I don't think it makes any difference to my crop. That said if you have very dry soil it will help with moisture retention

I don't do trenches either, usually for me mulches and newspapers keep them wet enough. This is the first year ever that it may have been worth it for me although I won't be going down that route.
I live in sunny Wiltshire, we've had weeks of no rain and even though I've mulched and covered the soil with damp newspapers my runner bean harvest has been much less than on previous years.Im on a water meter so I don't water anything except the GH, although if I had access to free water once a week my story would have been different.

**BUFFS** · 11-08-2014, 08:32 PM

I do dig trenches,3ft wide , 3ft deep and 6ft long, I put in all last years compost heap in the autumn and keep throwing more in as available, I cover it up in feb and plant my beans at the end of march as the soil is warmed from below, I have been able to raise the soil level by 4ins+ in the last decade which means that when we put the raised beds in (at the original level) we didn't need too much to top them up when all the unused soil from the pathways was put on top, I also use the "new" soil every 2yrs to replace all the contents of the greenhouse border so the soil doesn't get "sick" from all the toms and it is great for tatties in pots......and I never water as we get quite enough falling from the sky.........

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