Dwarf French beans .. or nasturtiums?

[Finley]

Hi,

I got an allotment in February (8 raised beds and a shed! Hurrah!), I've dug each bed over 3 times and got most of them up and running with a lot of blunderbuss style sowing. In my peas and beans bed I planted a lot (70 seeds) of dwarf French beans and they're sprouting like anything, but people keep telling me that the seedlings are nasturtiums not beans but.. can this be true? The wee leaves aren't round like nasturtiums, they're round but with three.. humps/protuberant bits.. like the outline of a cumulus cloud, but they do have similar stripes. It just seems odd that having dug the bed over three times and then planted beans that something else would grow so prolifically in precisely the same spot. I'll try to get a picture up but not sure if will manage such a highly technical procedure!
Any advice would be very gratefully received.
Thanks!

[Greenleaves]

Dont sound like bean leaves to me....Nasturtiums self seed and digging the bed has probably brought the seeds to the surface, french bean leaves look like the attached




Wecome to the vine

[Finley]

*hangs head sadly*

Thanks.. I was hoping I might just have really cool beans

[veggiechicken]

Hi Finley and welcome
If the leaves are roundish they're probably nasturtiums. bean leaves are a bit triangular and pointy!
Its also a bit early for beans to be germinating in the open ground - so sorry, you'll have a lovely crop of nasturtiums

[muddled]

BUT....nasturtiums are beautiful, keep black fly off of other things and the flowers, leaves and seed pods are all edible!
In our house, nasturtium leaf and cucumber sandwiches are the taste of summer....peppery and delicious!

I reckon your beans will come on up through the nasturtiums and you'll end up with a doubly productive bed that looks stunning!

All you need to do now is start telling folk you did it deliberately...they'll think you're a blimmin genius

[Gillykat]

Nasturtiums are just The Best! I wouldn't be without them on my allotment and I've noticed quite a few self-seeded seedlings coming up

[Finley]

That's excellent advice, thank you! Maybe I won't resow beans just yet.. might wait and see if they come up through the nasturtiums and try to look modest when I'm hailed a genius. I like the sound of that..

[Scoot]

You can eat nasturtiums as well.

[Finley]

Ok these are they.. I'm quite looking forward to them now though!

[Scarlet]

Yep, those are nasturtiums

Welcome to the vine Fin!

[jackarmy]

Yep , welcome and yep nasty sturgeons

[Nicos]

Good time to thin out a few as each plant can take up a lot of space.
This is what I do. Now is a good time as you won't damage the roots if you take some soil with them.
The thinnings get replanted in other areas.

Beautiful!

Oh....gosh- just had a thought....I'm keeping my fingers crossed they are the dwarf variety cos otherwise they'll swamp the beans.

[Finley]

Watch out nasturtiums.. if you're threatening my precious beans then Wednesday means war! Thanks for the heads up and the crossed fingers

[WendyC]

And the weed right in the middle looks like Fat Hen so get that out while you're there!

[Jay-ell]

OK, eat the nasturtium leaves, flowers and young fresh seeds in salads or pickle the fresh young seeds and use them as capers.