[jb]

Hi,
I currently have french and borlotti beans in an exposed bed that have both ben hit by the liht frosts last week. The french bean leaves are all burnt as are the exposed horizontal stems of the borlottis (they are on a Munty frame) although the main vertical growth is still green and healthy as it was protected from the prevailing wind by the french beans. The pods on both plants are all OK.
This week  the frost is predicted to be harder, but then we are predicted to have a frost-free run, so I would like to know if I should harvest all my pods before it hits or will they be damaged. This is because as, particularly for the borlottis, I would like to try and give them more ripening time to boost yield which could happen if the sheltered leaves can survive the next round of frost.
Thanks
jon

[mumofstig]

If it was me, I would harvest them It's not just the frost on the top growth - it is getting inceasingly cold during the day now, so I don't think they will be making more growth anyway.

See what the others think.........................

[Trillium]

Barlottis are more of a warm climate grower so mos is right, harvest them now so you don't lose anything. You can freeze fresh beans easily rather than dry them if this is what you planned to do. My french beans were still flowering last week but I reached a point where I simply had to pull them up in order to prepare the beds for next year.

[zazen999]

I heard there was a frost coming so last Sunday I was at the plot [in the glorious sun  ] - I took the top bar of the Munty frame off, and laid it on the ground; and put netting over the lot. I've got 4 areas of beans that I don't want to lose and one is a HSL Seed Guardian batch so it got double fleeced - and the frosty mornings last week didn't touch them 

The nets are just cheap ones from Ikea.

There's another forecast for tonight as well. So I'll go and get any beans that feel 'baggy' and pop them in the airing cupboard until dry. Then hope for the best.