[Lee G]

Well, the end of my first year is nearly here, apart from a few carrots and a bed of leeks the plot is bare, digging over is underway but nowhere near complete - damn these dark nights and wet weekends  :evil:

Anyway, I'm sitting down with a pen and paper working out what to plant  next year and more importantly where, but one thing that's got me a bit perplexed is my bean bed - like most of the other plots it has a permanent metal frame where we tie our canes, but this means I can't rotate where I grow them.  Is this a problem, obviously it's the same for everyone else on my site as they also have fixed frames - I would ask them but I rarely see anyone these days when I go, the old blokes are there at the crack of dawn and gone by 11am, and I rarely get there until the afternoon and only Saturdays and/or Sundays.  Will they be OK, I had an absolute glut of lovely runner beans and my french beans were pretty good too.

[Poolfield2]

I have a friend who has been (sorry no pun intended) growing Runner Beans on the same spot for 12 years, he just feeds the soil really well each year.

[beansticks]

I have 3 metal posts in a line which i use for tieing in my bean canes,however they are only about 20" in the ground and i move them easily every year.

[Aidy]

As above, you can grow beans in the spot for years without any problems, however it is a shame to do so, my way of thinking is as they are a nitrogen fixer they have lots of useful nodules in the ground going to waste if they are not moved, I follow my beans with Brassicas so they can benfit from the beans the previous year.

[richyrich7]

I had a better crop this year and i grew them in the same patch as the year before

[Lee G]

Thanks everyone, I'll check just how deep the frame is bedded in, just in case I can move it, but glad that it's not essential.

Really appreciate all the feedback, getting quite excited planning for next year - I only took the plot on in May so it was all a bit rushed, looking forward to my first full year  

[richyrich7]

If it's only your 1st year I'd not worry too much about crop rotation for next year. Chances are you don't know what's been where before anyway, another year won't hurt it takes a number of years to build up a possible problem.

[Salmo]

There is no reason to rotate beans. They usually get plenty of muck or have a bean trench dug and filled with all sorts of good organic stuff. If they are moved then other crops can take advantage of their rich conditions and also the fixed nitrogen from their roots.

The only problem you may come unstuck with is bean seed fly. The fly is likes to lay its eggs in freshly turned rich soil which does not need to have beans in it to make it attractive. The maggots hatch and normally feed on organic matter. That is unless there are germinating beans present when they burrow into the seed leaves and destroy them. This usually happens underground and often within the seed skin. The first you know about it is that the beans either do not come up or if they do the seed leaves are distorted and eaten away. Once the maggot has grown it pupates in the soil ready to hatch next Spring. Logically, if you plant bean seeds in the same place more than once the bean seed fly will be present and waiting in the soil.

Luckily there is a simple solution.  Do not plant beans directly into the ground but grow them in pots and plant them out. If you are very unlucky the fly may choose to lay its eggs in the lovely compost in your pots. I have had this happen on several occasions.

French beans are if anything more vunerable than runners. I have never seen them on broad beans but they are planted early and may be too soon for the fly.

[Aidy]

There is no reason to rotate beans. They usually get plenty of muck or have a bean trench dug and filled with all sorts of good organic stuff. If they are moved then other crops can take advantage of their rich conditions and also the fixed nitrogen from their roots.

The only problem you may come unstuck with is bean seed fly. The fly is likes to lay its eggs in freshly turned rich soil which does not need to have beans in it to make it attractive. The maggots hatch and normally feed on organic matter. That is unless there are germinating beans present when they burrow into the seed leaves and destroy them. This usually happens underground and often within the seed skin. The first you know about it is that the beans either do not come up or if they do the seed leaves are distorted and eaten away. Once the maggot has grown it pupates in the soil ready to hatch next Spring. Logically, if you plant bean seeds in the same place more than once the bean seed fly will be present and waiting in the soil.

Luckily there is a simple solution.  Do not plant beans directly into the ground but grow them in pots and plant them out. If you are very unlucky the fly may choose to lay its eggs in the lovely compost in your pots. I have had this happen on several occasions.

French beans are if anything more vunerable than runners. I have never seen them on broad beans but they are planted early and may be too soon for the fly.

I had it last year, never had it before. I always grow more than I need so had a few spare to replace the ones which was hit.

[rictic]

Hi.

I asked the same question to some old timers on our allotments. They grow in the same place every year. They remove all the matter from the trench add it to the muck heap, refill and add a few inches of top soil.

One fella has been using the same space for 20 yrs.

Keep the faith.

Rictic.

[gobs]

As Aidy, I also do rotate my beans, too, for both reasons mentioned.

It's not commonly done for the simple reason as it's impractical to move their frame about.