Bean Trench

[Frana]

Had my plot for about eighteen months and having good success this season.

Did not dig a bean trench for my runners and French, and although they are coming on nicely, have heard that a trench will bring even better results.

Any advice on when to start digging one for next season and any demon ingredients that I can put in it!

[carlseawolf]

All you have to do is did a trench about 2' wide and line it with cardboard then fill it with stuff normal going into your compost bin the cover with soil and plant your beans into it next year.
The idea of the trench is to retain moisture around the roots but do not include to much green leaves or grass cutting as they produce nitrogen .
To much nitrogen will produce leafy growth at the expence of a bean crop , so more cardboard , straw or paper will make the bed less rich in nitrogen.

[Hilary B]

My dad always included 'rags' in the bean trench, Any natural fibre oddments that were unsuitable for use (even as cleaning cloths). No idea whether it helped, or simply got rid of the rags, but presumably they rotted down over some years and eventually improved the soil generally. Anyone with access to a sheep farm might ask for some 'daggings' (the bit of the fleece which is filthy with muck) at shearing time, (they have a negative value in the wool crop) but it is another 'go easy to avoid excess nitrogen' option.

[Frana]

Thanks guys - helpful stuff, but when is the best time to dig it? I have heard 6 months prior to planting out is a good time to give the stuff chance to rot down.

[Snadger]

My dad always included 'rags' in the bean trench, Any natural fibre oddments that were unsuitable for use (even as cleaning cloths). No idea whether it helped, or simply got rid of the rags, but presumably they rotted down over some years and eventually improved the soil generally. Anyone with access to a sheep farm might ask for some 'daggings' (the bit of the fleece which is filthy with muck) at shearing time, (they have a negative value in the wool crop) but it is another 'go easy to avoid excess nitrogen' option.

My Uncle used to chuck the whole sheep in!

[shirlthegirl43]

Oh dear, I didn't know about the grass cuttings being bad and put loads in my trench. That might explain why I don't have masses of flowers, but then again, there isn't loads of greenery either. Is there anything I can feed the beans to counteract the nitrogen?

[Sanjo]

I would have thought that if you have plenty of flower then you are ok. The flower, after all, produces the bean (doesn't it - Hope I'm right anyway!!) Sanjo

[carlseawolf]

you will still have beans but plenty of leaves in the way when you come to pick them.

[Comfreyfan]

This year I threw in the tops of the green manure/cover crop that I'd grown on a different patch into the trench - there were armfuls of it - and so far I've got loads more flowers than ever before and lots of beans - picked my first 2 yesterday - it may be too soon to say and I'm almost afraid to say it - but it could be my best ever bean row! Some people open a trench some months before planting - I'm never that organised and it tends to be a last minute thing!

[Two_Sheds]

I don't like digging, so I don't make a bean trench.
This year I have dug out just a spade's depth of soil in the middle of each teepee, and filled this with well-rotted compost. Beans are doing really well, even with watering restricted to one can a week

[shushkin!]

Fab!

My Uncle used to chuck the whole sheep in!

Fab!
The ultimate in ", blood and bone!
Just got to catch me some a sheep!

[gojiberry]

I am now going to go out on a limb and say that the amount of green stuff in a bean trench does not matter. I believe that beans do not take up nitrogen from the soil but somehow create their own (hence the little whitish balls on the roots when you dig them up). The main function of the bean trench is to create a moist environ ment for the root system. But then I could be talking a load of twaddle.

Ian

[shushkin!]

I totally agree with gojiberry. You have to be careful to as certain materials actually take out nitrogen as they rot down. Stuff like rabbit bedding materials. Wood chip is the worst.

I would line the trench with bits of cardboard and add anything that will aid holding the moisture in around the roots. We all know how much runner beans crave moisture to do well.

[Flummery]

I think I'm going with the twaddle group here. The point is to make sure the beans never go short of moisture and a trench full of compost/compostable material, paper etc forms a sort of sponge to hold the moisture at the roots.

[di]

May I advise once you've dug your trench,filled your trench then covered it over ready for the beans,you pop a marker down to remember where it is!!No prizes for guessing what I did this year!!
Other than losing it I think I did everything else right!