When beans are over ....?

[susieq100]

My first planting of french beans are 'over' - I may get one more meal out of them but the leaves have withered and died back. I know that they are good for the soil so should I leave the roots in the bed and just cut off the tops or should I pull the whole plant up or should I just leave them for a bit? The space would be useful but I can manage without it. Advice please. Thanks folks

[Madasafish]

leave roots. Fix nitrogen.

[zazen999]

What Madasafish said.

[queen of the cobs]

don't they only fix nitrogen when they are alive though?

[susieq100]

Thanks folks

Thanks for that - well it will save me digging them up!

[Snadger]

I usually pull em up and the the nitro helps to activate the compost heap! When you pull em up, some of the fixated globules stay in the soil amyway!

Plant winter brassicas in the area they've vacated!

[Flummery]

I pull 'em up and compost too. I've tried cutting off at soil level and you have nasty bits of stick left in your soil. Can't be having with that! Brassicas here too.

[cazsudz]

Don't know if this would work with french beans but with my broad beans this year I dug the whole plant into the ground a bit like green manure. After a few weeks it had more or lesss rotted down and I planted my leeks straight into the space. They sem to be growing pretty well. Has anyone else tried just digging the whole plant in? Queen of the cobs - even thought they only fix nitrogen when they're growing, I think the nitrogen will still be in the root nodules afterwards and so benefit the soil.

Caz