[stompy]

The rats shouldn't bother it so long as there's no cooked veg or raw/cooked meat in there!

[Beano]

I'm on my second trench now having filled and covered the first. I chuck wood ash on mine as well as veg scraps. The first time I did this I hadn't allowed enough time and I had little potato sprouts coming through my runner beans, it was a nuisance. I did it for the second time last year and it made a lot of difference to the soil. Great way to improve the texture as well as productivity.

[madcat]

We put a layer of brown cardboard in the bottom - it helped hold the moisture last year when everything got so dry.

[Beano]

Dry? We don't do dry in West Wales. It's wet, wet, wet all the way!

[madcat]

Have you considered rice?   

[Paul Plots]

I've just dug my trench over this week-end and have made a start adding kitchen waste (only veg ) will I be able to plant beans this season

If the trench is deep enough / if there's enough soil on the top for the beans to get started they should be fine.

They will make their way down to the rotting vegetable matter most of which should be gone by the time they get there I'd guess.

[marcofez]

Can you keep the bean trench in the same position every year, or is it wise to move it?

[JayG]

In general it's "best practice" to rotate most annual crops to avoid a build-up of persistent diseases and pests in the soil, but luckily runner beans are not subject to too many of those and are probably the crop which is most often grown in the same bed year after year (I do!)

[marcofez]

I'm gonna give it a go with all my climbing beans and see what results I get.