Early Broad Beans

Friday was warm and breezy but without much sunshine. We had a few light showers throughout the day.

Last year we attempted to grow some peas over winter to produce an early spring crop. It didn’t work as although the peas germinated well in the autumn they didn’t survive winter. So this year we’re giving Broad Beans “Bunyards Exhibition” a try. To be honest the seeds came free with a gardening magazine so I thought I might as well give it a go.

The packet suggests sowing outdoors in October and November which sounds rather late to me as broad bean seeds always seem to take a long time to germinate. I can’t image them germinating very well sown direct in the plot in October so I’m giving them a head start in life by sowing them now in modules and leaving these in the greenhouse to germinate.

This is the only molly codling they’re going to get. Once planted out on the plot I'm leaving them to their own devices to get through winter without any protection. They can’t do any worse than the peas!