I`m getting old.....

[Newton]

I got no beans this year, even with the trench, so I'm not doing that anymore either.

No trench.....no beans.....no chance!

Were the siber beans aware of their final destination? Did they know that you have given up on growing beans already? Did they escape?

Tweet Chris Evans.......he might mention it on air....

[Two_Sheds]

if only we didnt have to dig.....

I don't dig bean trenches

Me neither.
I sow them in 3" pots then transplant them onto lotty, into trowel holes, not trenches. Chuck a bit of garden compost in the hole with them, puddle them in, and off they go. Masses of beans, every year. I never dig trenches

[Snadger]

You can scoop out a shallow trench very easily, heaping the scooped out soil along each edge. Fill with organic matter throughout the winter and cover the infilled trench prior to planting with the soil from either side.
If you have a permanent bed and permanent supports for your beans,and are worried about rotation,you can scoop out the soil as before but before adding the organic matter add a layer of polythene or used fertilliser/bin bags. Perforate these with a fork.
At the end of the growing season this polythene can be removed along with everything on top of it and used somewhere else on the plot. Dig a shallow trench and put last years bean soil/compost in the trench where it will do no end of good.
The soil taken from the trench will be used on this years bean trench.

I am a no dig gardener but my bean areas are an exception. It isn't just the rotted organic matter that does them good, it's mainly the extra water retension.
As you can imagine, an 8 foot high wall of foliage will transpire a lot of water on a hot day and without some form of water retention the beans will wilt and the crop will be affected.
My reason for resorting to monoculture in my 'legume' areas only, is that I have clubroot and onion white rot together, so am limited to what I can grow there!

Sorry for prattling on.......I didn't mean to make the post so long!

[taff]

I might try it for french beans next year, in the rock solid bed, nothing has done really well in there since the sweetcorn 3 years ago.

[chris]

You can scoop out a shallow trench very easily, heaping the scooped out soil along each edge. Fill with organic matter throughout the winter and cover the infilled trench prior to planting with the soil from either side.
If you have a permanent bed and permanent supports for your beans,and are worried about rotation,you can scoop out the soil as before but before adding the organic matter add a layer of polythene or used fertilliser/bin bags. Perforate these with a fork.
At the end of the growing season this polythene can be removed along with everything on top of it and used somewhere else on the plot. Dig a shallow trench and put last years bean soil/compost in the trench where it will do no end of good.
The soil taken from the trench will be used on this years bean trench.

I am a no dig gardener but my bean areas are an exception. It isn't just the rotted organic matter that does them good, it's mainly the extra water retension.
As you can imagine, an 8 foot high wall of foliage will transpire a lot of water on a hot day and without some form of water retention the beans will wilt and the crop will be affected.
My reason for resorting to monoculture in my 'legume' areas only, is that I have clubroot and onion white rot together, so am limited to what I can grow there!

Sorry for prattling on.......I didn't mean to make the post so long!

I've been planning to sink old sacks to help with water retention - my beans are planted right next to a natural spring that's been filled in - BUT there's a HUGE oak tree in the garden behind my plot, right near my beans - the ground is noticeably drier there - I'm sure the tree is sucking up loads of water.

[stella]

Yep no dig method here to. I have tried both ways and really not a lot of difference in the crop, but think how fit you must be after all that work, no need to go to the gym

[snohare]

All these folk spouting "no-trench" heresy, and here's me bean planning mine for ages !
I've always assumed that the main advantage to beans from the trench is the moisture retained, so as I can't water more than once a week I decided I would do goal posts for my runners, dig a deep trench, backfill with soggy stuff and banana skins for potassium to encourage flowering, then plant up as usual. I might put a wee pipe in to allow watering deep down.
It has worked in the past, it would break my heart to think all that digging was for nowt and I could have got off with two minutes with a trowel.
Still, digging in all that stuff can't be bad for the soil, long term.

[taff]

don't worry about it, just think bean-positive at least you know that no-dig works, and dig works, so either way, you'll have beans galore

unless the weathers really bad or your bean seeds are too old or the mice eat your seeds or...or....or...

[Hilary B]

My Dad always did deepish trenches for runnerbeans, left all winter for all sorts of bio-degradable rubbish to be dropped in (often torn old clothes and similar, in the days when artificial fibre was relatively rare), and when he thinly covered all that stuff the trench was still at least 9" deep. Come May 5th, a couple more inches of soil and the beens were planted in that, and 'earthed up' as they grew until reaching 'normal' soil level. It seemed to work pretty well, we lived on Runner beans for several weeks, in spite of the peak of the crop always coming JUST as we went on holiday!