Runner beans

It does help a lot, with retaining water, if we have a dry year..........in a wet year I don't think it makes much difference - unless you have very poor soil!

oooh.............I forgot about that   

Wet? He's in Yorkshire!

Personally I never bother with trenches, but they're an excellent way of composting stuff like brussel sprout stalks that would fill up your compost bin & take ages to rot down.

What a good Idea (I threw them away last year), do you chop them up first DD or just lay them in the trench?

What's the view on putting Brassica stalks into the bean trench - assuming rotation with Brassicas following Beans?

I don't reckon my Brussels stalks will be "removed" until a few weeks - a month perhaps? - before the Beans go in. Having said that, I remember a conversation earlier this year that the Nitrogen fixing of the Beans provides more Umph for the breakdown of fresh, uncomposted materials.

I think I should stop being so mean and get a decent shredder and then the Brassica stalks can be pulped up and composted with everything else!

we always dig a trench, although it's never as early as autumn, we only rememebed to do one about five weeks before our beans went in, actually thinking about it, when i sow the seeds in the greenhouse for the runner beans thats my reminder i need to dig a trench, we've been lucky so far as well and have had prize-winners