My packets of broad beans say plant October or January. Why can't I
plant now? The weathers so odd anyway and broad beans can't read a
calendar.
My stored potato's are sprouting! That's never happened before till
the spring.
--
Mike.

Brownfingers wrote in
:

My packets of broad beans say plant October or January. Why can't I
plant now? The weathers so odd anyway and broad beans can't read a
calendar.
My stored potato's are sprouting! That's never happened before till
the spring.

I have only been gardening for 2 years and this is the third time I
have sown broad beans in autumn.
The variety I have stayed with is Aquadulce Claudia and they have not let
me down despite sub zero temperatures sometimes.
Last year I bought too many(oops!) and sowed them in 2 week periods from
early Nov. to late Dec. and then the rest at end of Jan., they all came
through but the Dec and Jan took a long time to show.
The ones sown in Nov were a couple of weeks ahead of the rest when I
harvested them so this year I sowed the lot on 5th Nov.

Your potato situation seems weird.
I have caterpillers on my cabbages rigt now....weird too eh?
I pruned my raspberries last week and found hundres of ladybirds hiding
under fallen leaves where last year I saw just a couple.

Anyway I wish you luck with the broad beans, I'm sure they will do it
for you whenever you decide to put 'em in.

Part_No

Brownfingers writes
My packets of broad beans say plant October or January. Why can't I
plant now? The weathers so odd anyway and broad beans can't read a
calendar.

I think the idea is that in October the soil is still warm enough that
they will sprout and grow a little way, enough to stand over winter
without rotting, even though they won't do much in the way of growing
between November and February.

If you plant from February onwards, the soil is warm enough for them to
sprout and grow, though in theory they'll be a bit behind their cousins
who were planted in October and put on some growth in the autumn.

If you sow in December, the soil will not be warm enough to initiate
germination, and the bean will rot between now and February.

--
Kay

On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:47:53 GMT, "Part_No" wrote:

The variety I have stayed with is Aquadulce Claudia and they have not let
me down despite sub zero temperatures sometimes.
Last year I bought too many(oops!) and sowed them in 2 week periods from
early Nov. to late Dec. and then the rest at end of Jan., they all came
through but the Dec and Jan took a long time to show.

same variety! I'm sure they will work, in the past I have sown in
November, sometimes they come through in autumn and get battered by
the winter wind, other times they do not come through till spring.
--
Mike.

--
http://www.keepcrueltyhistory.com/

"Brownfingers" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:47:53 GMT, "Part_No" wrote:

The variety I have stayed with is Aquadulce Claudia and they have not let
me down despite sub zero temperatures sometimes.
Last year I bought too many(oops!) and sowed them in 2 week periods from
early Nov. to late Dec. and then the rest at end of Jan., they all came
through but the Dec and Jan took a long time to show.

same variety! I'm sure they will work, in the past I have sown in
November, sometimes they come through in autumn and get battered by
the winter wind, other times they do not come through till spring.
--
Mike.

I plant three lots of broad beans. The first in October, the second lot in
the second week of December and the third lot in March/April and they
germinate without a problem. Last year, however, the ground was frozen so
the second lot of sowing was delayed. That is a rare occasion for us.

www.rraa.moonfruit.com

Brownfingers wrote:
My packets of broad beans say plant October or January. Why can't I
plant now? The weathers so odd anyway and broad beans can't read a
calendar.

Isn't the idea to plant before it gets really cold, so they grow a
bit then they stop for winter - they don't die, but they also don't
grow any more until spring. So if it was warm enough to start them
off it would be fine. But since it as -3 here this morning (and
snow is expected later in the week) I'd say you've missed the slot.

Although I just planted some in pots and put them in the greenhouse
to put out in spring.

My stored potato's are sprouting! That's never happened before till
the spring.

Yeah, mine seem to be doing that a bit, too. Although tbh, I'm not
sure I can say they didn't do it last year and previous.