runner beans and trenches

Dear Fellow Gardeners,

Last year I dug a trench to prepare for my runner beans. I chucked all the waste, chopped thinly, from my garden and it worked well, apart from my having dug the trench too deep, as I had a great crop this year. Having read that you can leave the stakes in the same place year after year, I was wondering how I could square that with a trench, so to speak. Should I remove some earth from the space created inside the stakes and around my stakes , chucking all my waste ininto the hollow thus created?


Anton

Thanks for your reply. How deep would you dig your trench?

Anton

We do as Jay does, and there are also several inches of green lawn mowings chucked on every year, and you'd be surprised at how much that helps!

Runner beans aren't particularly deep rooted so the depth is not critical - it's the retention of soil moisture that they will appreciate.

.....and for that reason I always put newspaper in the bottom of the trench. I don't crumple it, just lay a folded newspaper or two along the whole length and put the compost material on top.

Having just dug my trench today (and put the newspaper in  but not so deep as JayG!), I realised that won't the newspaper have rotted by the spring and so won't hang onto moisture so much? 

This year I laid my trench (which worked really well) in the spring, so wasn't an issue....

It'll all be gone if you fill it too early 

Exactly.  I'll leave it now until early spring to fill, My lot can produce enough compost to fill a trench in 2 weeks anyway     but I have to say it was a joy digging this afternoon in the sunshine.