[Snoop]

New Shoot, that is fantastic information. I never seem to do well with broad beans. Wizard it is for me.

[dugless]

I sowed in October , then again in April the October ones out did the April sowing.
I all ways save some seed for next year. just pick out the large ones.

[AnneB]

New Shoot, that is fantastic information. I never seem to do well with broad beans. Wizard it is for me.

Another fan of Wizard here.  Grew them for the first time this year, sowing in first week of November.   Only 1 seed did not come through.   The beans themselves are a little smaller than standard broad beans, but the plants are the same size.   However they are absolutely covered in pods that more than make up for the slightly smaller size.  Yield is easily 4 times what I achieved last year with Aquadulce Longpod and Crimson flowered, by weight.   No chocolate spot. No black fly.

[Snoop]

New Shoot, that is fantastic information. I never seem to do well with broad beans. Wizard it is for me.

Yield is easily 4 times what I achieved last year with Aquadulce Longpod and Crimson flowered, by weight.   No chocolate spot. No black fly.

Well, now I'm totally convinced. Will Mr Snoop realise he's not eating standard broad beans?

[New shoot]

Well, now I'm totally convinced. Will Mr Snoop realise he's not eating standard broad beans?

They are a fair bit smaller than the standard broad beans, but the taste is the same    Tell him you are growing a variety bred to give baby beans   

They are actually field beans, which is an ancient crop predating the growing of broad beans in the UK, but I don't see why he needs to know that 

[Snoop]

Wizard it is, then.

Wizard! 

[al78]

Last autumn I sowed Aquadulce broad beans in pots and left in a cloche greenhouse* over winter, planting out in the spring when it wasn't so soaking wet, and that seemed to work well. However that was unusual in that there were hardly any frosts so don't know how well it would work in an average or cold winter. One advantage in sowing in pots is that you can bring them indoors if the weather looks particularly harsh.

*which ended up on the neighbours driveway after one of many storms.

[domw001]

I was thinking of sowing my autumn BBs in pots this year and overwinter them in the greenhouse and plant them out in Feb. I did it with garlic this year and things were OK.

I am forever losing the spring-sown battle against blackfly so I will try autumn sowing this year.  Although the last time I tried it they got wiped out with snow hence keeping them in the greenhouse initially.

Any advice?

[dugless]

Blackfly pinch the tops out when they reach 1mt or old money 3ft, I pinch mine at 2ft as I find there are not many beans above that and they stay more upright.