over wintering broad beans

[hamsterqueen]

forgive me if this has been asked elsewhere. I am very lazy this evening!

Can I start the beans off in wee pots and plant them out in october/november or does this cancel out the point of overwintering them ?

ie should they just sit as seeds in the ground until the spring arrives?

[PAULW]

The broad beans will grow before the winter starts then go to sleep through the colder part of the year and wake up again in the spring giving them a head start over spring sown beans, if the rain/snow/frost/gales dont beat them to pieces first, personally I have found the spring sown beans play catch up you may have beans a couple of weeks earlier from the surviving plants but IMO its not worth the hassle.

[Alison]

I vary if I grow autumn planted ones but when I do, I plant them in root trainers in mid October and then plant them into the ground a couple of weeks later after they've come through. Don't them them get too leggy as they won't stand the winter, they want to be short and stocky and have developed a good root network to get them going fast when it warms up in the spring.

[hamsterqueen]

Thank you

I'll give it a go

:0)

[bubblewrap]

I usually start my broad beans off in toilet roll centres about this time of the year & plant outside late November/early December.
I usually get my first pickings early May.