[Carollan]

I am clearing my broad bean plants,all the seed pods are black now and the seeds are going brown.
If I plant them this side of Christmas,will they germinate?
Or do I have to wait till the spring?Do they need a period of cold before they germinate?

I was hoping to cover some ground with all the spare seeds I have,sort of like green manure,saves leaving the land empty and would fix some nitrogen for the next crop.

[strangerachael]

If you only want to use them for green manure, I'd say go for it, you've nothing to lose by trying. They don't  need a period of cold before germinating. A lot of people sow broad beans in the autumn for an early crop next spring/summer, they are quite hardy but in a very hard winter they don't always survive. And there is already talk of frost and snow as early as October 

[Plottered]

Talking of early frosts I saw a delivery of bags of road salt being delivered to the local hospital the other day...is it a sign of an early hard winter

[Bing]

early hard winter? I think it will be a warm winter!

[hightide]

I usually save mine, sort through and discard discoloured and broken one and those with small round holes in them and plant in spring. I tried both ways i.e. autumn and spring planting those that did survive winter were only about a week ahead of the spring planted ones; so now I just plant them in the spring.

early hard winter? I think it will be a warm winter!

Not so sure about that though - have you sen the amount of berries on the tree? the Rowan trees around here are loaded berries hanging in great bunches - and I had loads of Sloes all signs for a hard winter

[sunshineband]

Last year I sowed braod beans in October and they germinated to make nice little plants.

They did not last the winter though, even down here, and few folk on our site had any that did.