[Beetroot queen]

At the start we decided to miss growing broad beans because only my 8 year old eats them.  She wasnt too pleased about this but after a few days seemed to forget.

Nanny and Grandad took her to town to get her a well done present for doing well with her music this term (she has taken on 3 instruments and is doing really well)  This is all part of the story so stay awake 

They came home and nanny said we ended up at the garden center and my daughter had only asked for two pots of tiny broad beans for her gift. cheeky monkey she is. so now we have two pots which were small at the start of teh week but now they are not so small, they have doubled their size already.

I have a bed free and I have added wood ash to the soil, like it mentioned in the bible


But need some help on the other bits

can they go out yet,

do they need support and can anyone post a pic if they do

thanks in advance 

[noshed]

They will be fine to go out now, harden them off for a few days if they've been inside. Plant them about 6" apart in a double row. When they grow up you will probably need to support them with some stakes and string as they flop over.
The only real thing that they get is black fly on the tops so everyone says nip those out when the pods are forming. I've never found this works but that's just me. I generally just try to wash them off with water and washing up liquid.
You can still sow some more as well to make a longer row for your daughter. Fancy trying to deprive her of yummy broad beans!
You can eat them in their shells when they are small, 2" long or so.
My favourite.

[Ice]

Try cooking them and double podding.  You remove the grey outer cover and there are bright green, delicious beans inside.

[paintedlady]

The only real thing that they get is black fly on the tops

LOTS of black fly ... in a bad case, they can make the pods look pretty manky but the beans inside are fine.  Even if you forget to nip/wash off etc, you are bound to have loads of ladybird larvae!  Last year I thought I had a new mysterious infestation of some alien bugs, but when I looked them up, they were not so scary 

[Haz]

Hi,

They do not need supports.  Water with little washing up liquid always works to control those horrible black insects.

Broad beans are delicious steamed, boiled but we love them raw.

Hazem

[Stripey_cat]

If you have ants on the plot, they'll farm the blackfly for honeydew.  Someone suggested putting a dab of honey or jam on the plants above the aphid infestation, then the ants will eat that for sugar and the bugs for protein!  Will have to try this year.  Obviously, you need to smear more sugar around after rain.

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, i believe i've mensioned this in another post, but if you plant pot marigolds (Calendula)near them they are like blackfly magnets.

[pol and mick]

The only real thing that they get is black fly on the tops

LOTS of black fly ... in a bad case, they can make the pods look pretty manky but the beans inside are fine.  Even if you forget to nip/wash off etc, you are bound to have loads of ladybird larvae!  Last year I thought I had a new mysterious infestation of some alien bugs, but when I looked them up, they were not so scary 

One recipe for blackfly which i came across in an old book is to mix 4ozs of soft soap to  gallon of water.For crops which are to be eaten soon dust with derris powder when plants are damp.This is poisonous to insects but harmless to human beings.

[Salmo]

If derris is harmless why was it banned last year?

[Aunt Sally]

This article on the Harrod Horticulture site explains a little about the ban. 

I think the manufacturers are not renewing the licence as the research to prove its safety or danger would cost far too much to make it a good commercial risk to carry out.

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/weblog/archives/2008/02/organic_insecti.html

[Ice]

I find a squirt of "Bug Clear" kills 'em dead.

[Aidy]

Two reasons to grow sutton, 1: They are are small growing so dont need staking/ supporting. 2: for some reason they tend not to be as affected by Black fly, dont know why but mine hardly get any compared to my neighbours. I have grown the sutton for several years now and laugh at all the fancy supports people put in, me I just plop mine into the ground and wait for the beans to appear. 

[Aunt Sally]

I use soft soap for blackfly.  Works a treat

[Stripey_cat]

Mine (The Sutton) got blackfly last year.  Devastatingly bad attack: I pinched out the tops when I saw the first few, but a fortnight later the stems were solid with them.  I was going out every day and wiping off a carpet of blackfly and washing off the corpses with soft soap, and the next morning the stems were black again.  I'm trying an experiment this year: I forced some The Sutton indoors until they were starting to flower, then put them on the patio.  I'm hoping they'll have enough of a head start that they'll do OK before the blackfly get to them.

[Aidy]

Stripey, sow your suttons in Autumn and they will miss the blackfly, these are very hardy plants and as they are low growing are not that bothered with winter winds.