Bean Trenches

[sweetcorn]

Is it OK to have your runner beans in the same place each year? I had a great display up a fence with runner beans and sweet peas and want to do the same this year. Is it all to do with digging out bean trenches????

[Flummery]

Many crops are moved (rotated) each year to avoid the build-up of disease or to prevent the soil being depleted of the nutrients a particular plant requires. However, lots of people have permanent bean trenches - they seem to do fine in the same place over many years. The usual reason for digging deep trenches for beans is more to do with ensuring sufficient water at the roots. They do need a lot of water to set and swell plenty of beans and a whole load of compost - even newspaper, well-watered - in your trench will make sure they don't dry out (assuming we EVER get a dry summer again!
I'm sure they'll do just as well this year if you grow them in the same place. - Here's to a good season!

[Mike and Louise]

We grew runner beans in the same pots for 3 yrs running and had no problems. All we did was to top up the soil that was in the tubs.

However this year we are growing them in the ground.

[snuffer]

I have grown runner beans in the same place for the last, at least, eight years and to the best of my knowledge the previous owner of the house grew her runner beans in exactly the same place. Every so often (perhaps once every three or four years) I do incorporate lots of compost and manure into the bean trench. On other years I just top dress with a general purpose organic fertiliser like blood fish and bone. I can honestly sat that I have always had a good crop and never had any problems with pests or disease.

[GreenPete]

I've grown them in the same place without any problems.
In fact one year I didn't need to put in any seed, we had a mild winter and the runner beans being a half hard perennial survived the winter. The following summer was really dry and most people had a poor crop, but mine having already established themselves had a bumper crop on them

[kentvegplot]

My OH put up a brilliant support for my beans last year, I haven't the heart to ask him to move it, so permanent bean bed for me. I've just incorporated some compost into a trench to help with water-holding but that's all. They did really well last year (mainly French beans) and I too put the sweet peas on the end.