Broad Beans, Feeding & Extra Protein

After a sleepless night from all the fire drama, I really wasn’t up to much on Friday apart from shuffling around doing my impression of a zombie. Time was I could party until 3am, be up and out for 8am and do a full day’s work. That was a few years back though, not now.

The raised beds behind the polytunnel. Two are 4×1 M and the rear one is 2×1 M

Sowing Broad Beans

Saturday wasn’t too bad though, so I got a few jobs done in the afternoon. The first task was to sow broad beans in the long (4 metre) raised bed by the polytunnel. This job took a bit longer than planned, though.

First of all a drew a shallow trench just in from the side. The trench should be 20cm wide and 5cm deep or 8 ins and 2 ins in old money. The seeds are placed in two staggered rows, spaced at 20cm or 8 ins apart in the row. Then the soil is drawn over with a rake and the job’s done.

Sowing Broad Beans in Staggered Rows

Except I made the first trench 10cm wide and spaced the seeds 10cm apart. My measuring stick is marked in inches but I’m trying to be a bit more metric for younger readers.

Happily I realised what a mess of it I was making before covering the seeds, so pick them back up, widen the trench and start again.

There’s a fantastic sci-fi film, 2001 A Space Odyssey, where the computer controlling the space ship, HAL 9000, kills the crew apart from one astronaut who has to disconnect its higher functions. As he pulls memory modules from the core, the AI begs him to stop with the famous line, “My mind is going. I can feel it.” I know how it felt!

Extra Potash

Once both rows were sown, I watered them in with 20 litres per row which had 40 grams of sulphate of potash per 10 litres mixed in. Broad beans, in particular, enjoy a high level of potash which helps prevent chocolate spot.

Spare Seeds

I’ve got about 30 seeds left so the plan is to wait a week and start them in rootrainers. I know some of the seeds planted won’t come up, probably about 10 will fail. The seeds planted undercover will be ahead of those directly sown, hence delaying sowing those for a week. Any left over plants will get tucked in somewhere.

Fruit Trees

There’s a few fruit trees in the area behind the polytunnel, and these were treated to 10 litres of the same potash mix per tree. They don’t do well due to the position but a bit of extra help won’t go amiss.

Fertilising a Bed in the Polytunnel

Polytunnel Border, Feeding with Organic Compost / Fertiliser

It was getting a bit chilly by 5 pm, so into the polytunnel. The long side-border had some chickweed growing, so the hoe was employed. Once the chickweed was hoed, I fed the border with Marshalls Organic Extra compost / feed. Marshalls kindly sent me a bag to try. One of the benefits of organic compost fertilisers is that they’re tolerant. Use too much of an artificial fertiliser and you can actually kill plants off. Organic composts aren’t so demanding – an extra handful isn’t a big deal. Except to the pocket, of course!

The plan is to put a six foot row (AKA 2 metres) of runner beans in, variety Moonlight, Bulgarian Giant Leeks which do really well in the polytunnel and a cucumber along with a few salad crops.

Extra Protein Lettuce

We had a salad the other night based on a Lollo Rosso from the polytunnel. Lovely lettuce, only problem is the slugs agree. Found seven little slugs hiding in the centre, including one that was jet black. Never seen the like before.