Autumn Sown Broad Beans....what should I do?

[selfraising]

Hi, I sowed some broad beans (Aquadulce Claudia) back in October. They were sown direct outside and are now about 8 inches tall. As they have been outside, unprotected all winter they have flopped over and look bedraggled. Today I tied them in to some canes and noticed that some have new shoots growing from the base. Should I cut down the main stem and allow these new shoots to grow through and become the main stem or do I leave alone?

[vicky]

I'd tie in and leave alone - when I grew them last year they flopped a bit too in the colder weather but perked up once spring appeared. They had a couple of shoots coming up from each seed too.

[selfraising]

Oh thanks Vicky, just didn't want to end up with too many main stems and was a bit worried that the floppy ones had had it