broad Beans Bed?

[threepeas]

hi

When your broad beans have finished and you have taken all your pods off, what do you do?

Cut it all down and let the roots and bits rot down like some people do or do you take it all out and plant something else in for the rest of the summer?

If you do what would you plant? our broad beans will be ready to pick by the middle of june to the end.

[zazen999]

Cut the haulms down and plant something else in the bed. Give it a mulch of home made compost once the haulms are off the bed, a rake and you are good to go.

[threepeas]

what would be good to plant in the bed afterwards?

[oliveoyl]

I'm planning on planting a winter squash or two in the same bed in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully the beans will have done their thing by the time the squash takes over... that's the plan anyways.

[zazen999]

what would be good to plant in the bed afterwards?

Anything that you have ready.

[Alison]

I tend to plant squashes too, they cope well with the fact that there are the remains of the beans in the way

[cazsudz]

THis is a bit unorthodox but I've done it for 2 years running now. Once the beans are finished , I dig the whole plants, roots and tops, into the soil, chopping it all up thoroughly with the spade as I go. I add a bit of fertiliser, then plant leek seedlings straight in. By the autumn they are well established and the beans have rotted down and there is no sign of them. I plant some leeks after the new spuds too but the ones that have done best are the ones planted on top of the broad beans.

Caz

[Two_Sheds]

... the ones that have done best are the ones planted on top of the broad beans.

... the ones that you've added fertiliser to?

[cazsudz]

I always add a bit of blood, fish and bone or chicken poo when I'm planting something into a space recently vacated by something else, so all my leeks have fertiliser added.

The fact they grow well may be nothing to do with the bean haulms but it doesn't seem to do any harm and I feel the goodness in the beans is not wasted.

Caz