Overwintering Beans

[snohare]

This year I am going to try overwintering broad beans for the first time, using wires on the leeward gable end of the house. (Aguadulce, so should be hardy enough I hope.)
A couple of questions occurred to me though. Why not sow them now, and give them some more growth before winter, so that come spring they have better developed roots etc ? Why do we wait until autumn to sow for overwintering ? (Given the length of growing season at 1100 feet, I don't have that long to wait anyway, I know.)
Also, I have some Yellow Bush Cherokee Wax garden beans - could I plant them now, put them under cloches over the winter, or into a hot bed, and expect an early crop next spring ? Or does daylight length matter to these plants for setting seed ?
I'm guessing that if it was that easy, others would already be doing it - but if you don't ask, you don't find out what lies behind what we do.
Any help gratefully received !

[Two_Sheds]

Why not sow them now, and give them some more growth before winter

Because you don't want them to put on too much top growth. It will be exposed to gales and frosts.

Ideally, they should be facing winter with about 5 inches max of top growth. The roots down below will develop slowly but strongly, then in spring the top growth will take off.

[Two_Sheds]

I have some Yellow Bush Cherokee Wax garden beans - could I plant them now, put them under cloches over the winter

No, French beans aren't hardy. Any cold will just kill them. Can't be done.


(go on, prove me wrong )

[zazen999]

I had heard tale of a blokey at Garden Organic who has bred a hardy French Bean....took it to the suppliers but they didn't want to know????

After this year's little early bean growing experiment, I'm trying a few over winter but indoors.

I'm also doing what I did last year in growing broadies but keeping them in the greenhouse over the winter, so that they don't get the gales....and again succession sowing so that the smaller ones can do outdoors over the winter period to take off in the spring.

Having a greenhouse gives you strange ideas, probably be proved wrong but I like a challenge.

[snohare]

go on, prove me wrong

Not likely where I am going Two Sheds, unless it is due to the emissions of Krakatoa-like heat loss from thermally leaking granite walls built in 18oatcake and never insulated with anything more than moosedroppings since ! (I hear that several large trees are needed to be burnt each winter to keep the ceilings from icing over...)

It will be exposed to gales and frosts

Actually, what I thought I might do was cut back the broadies foliage as soon as the frosts looked likely to appear, with the enhanced roots chugging away. The idea behind doing it on the sheltered gable wall is that it is very sheltered - there is a large copse of trees nearby, and it is well into the shoulder of the lie of the land.
But on the other gable wall, I was planning on putting up a timberframed DIY lean-to greenhouse insulated with bubble wrap, right against the chimney breast where the heat will be lost. Maybe that would be safer. No shortage of stones to weight it down with anyway - all I need to do is dig down four inches anywhere in the garden.
Ta for the help !

[Two_Sheds]

I have tried growing autumn broadies earlier than November - it was a disaster.

They grew tall and quick in Sept/October. Then the days darkened and the weather got harder.

I built cloches for my lovely 2 foot tall plants, I mollycoddled them and fussed over them.
When the cloches came off in spring, they just collapsed. They had grown too tall, soft and floppy to cope with the spring weather (windy).

It can be done, but it's a lot of bother for not much reward (beans a fortnight earlier than spring sown)
Now, I sow them in late Oct and leave them to it. They don't look much, but take off in spring.

[snohare]

Okay, ta for that info, Two Sheds, just what I needed to know ! Interesting to think that they needed whatever makes them put up stiffer stems, I've never even thought about what triggers/feeds that process.
Oh well, the idea is scotched, I could do without the hassle, I think I will be out weeding and de-stoning until dark every day as it is.
(Lovely blog by the way, sorry to hear of your bike accident.Disgraceful performance by the police. After 5 similar events I called it a day, but I am hoping to get back to cycling once I've moved.)

[Two_Sheds]

(Lovely blog by the way, sorry to hear of your bike accident.Disgraceful performance by the police.

the streets would be a lot safer if the police were to take action against these drivers. Take their license off them until they re-take their test.

If the police take "no further action" as I suspect they won't, then I will be complaining loudly to the press and MP. I've had enough of the anti-cyclist brigade, who are getting away scot-free with mowing us down.

Thanks about the blog ... I used to have one a while ago, but can't find it now - so started again

[snohare]

I just passed my test last week - I now live in mortal fear of ever harming another person on the road. A car has so much kinetic energy, there is no such thing as a "minor" collision ! Anyone who wants to dispute that should consider putting their fingers between a car bumper and another surface when the car is moving...
Fair enough have sympathy for a doddery old driver, but it is the police's job to impartially ensure safety for all through the law. Had it been a copper or a personal relative who was struck, they would have had a different outlook.
A private prosecution in lieu of the courts requiring the driver to resit his test is what springs to my mind, but which of us minnows would ever be able to afford such a luxury as legal action ? Courts are the first resort of fools and rogues, the last resort of honest folks.