When to plant: Plant, in early October, directly into prepared bed as they don’t like to be transplanted.
How to plant:
Bed/ soil preparation:
50mm homemade compost
25mm cow manure1/2 handful pelletised organic chicken manure1/2 handful blood and bone
Dig through then cover with mulchLeave 1-2 weeks before sowing seeds.
Depth & space:
Push seeds into soil 2cm deep, cover with soil and firm gently. Plant beans about 15-20cm apart, with 30-40cm between rows - allow a larger spacing if you live in a particularly humid climate, this will allow better airflow around the plants and help prevent fungal diseases. Lightly mulch the soil around plants after planting with organic sugar cane to retain moisture.
Water once then avoid watering until germination as seeds rot easily.
Care: Once beans begins to flower, water fortnightly with seaweed solution or spray with Nutrisoil.
Plant bush beans which are determinate every 3-4 weeks. These also benefit from hilling up to 5cm to keep plants stable. Also plant climbing beans which are indeterminate and produce a heavier crop.
Harvest: Beans will be ready to begin harvesting 10-14 weeks after planting - bush beans are typically faster to crop than climbing varieties. Regularly picking beans every 3-4 days will encourage more flowers and a bigger, longer bean harvest. If beans are left too long before harvesting the pods will become tough. This is fine if you want to consume the beans in the pods or plan to dry the beans out for storage.
Troubleshooting:
• Slugs and Snails will cause significant damage to young bean seedlings. Protect your bean crop by setting beer traps (saucers filled with beer) or use Snail & Slug pellets.
• To reduce the chance of fungal disease infecting bean foliage, avoid overhead watering and if you live in a region with high humidity make sure there is plenty of airflow between plants.
Varieties
Dwarf
Climbing
Runner
Bush Beans
When to plant: Plant in October - December
How to plant:
Bed/ soil preparation:
Improve the soil with lots of garden compost to help keep the soil moist, but free draining. Peas, being legumes, prefer an alkaline to neutral soil (pH7 or higher); add lime to acidic soils in late winter.
Start the seedlings:
Sow 50mm deep, cover with fine sand when soil temp is 15’C
Mist until germination 3-5 days later.
Then keep drier, watering as needed early morning.
Give max sunshine
Depth & space:
Transplant into garden after 4-5 weeks 20cm apart, 5cm deep ensuring no air pocket remains.
60 day maturity
Peas need a sunny position that is sheltered from strong winds, to ensure insects can pollinate the flowers.
Care: Peas need plenty of soil moisture, especially at flowering and when the pods are filling, otherwise the crops are poor and the peas are small, dry and tasteless. To ensure they don't go short of water, dig a trench approximately 30cm deep in early spring and add a 15cm layer of compost to retain moisture. Fill the trench with soil a fortnight before sowing or planting out.
Water well during dry periods, especially during flowering and pod set, giving the soil a good soaking once or twice a week. Mulch the soil around the plants to preserve soil moisture. You can also feed weekly with a high potash liquid feed to promote bigger crops.
Apart from dwarf bush varieties, peas need support for the plants to grow up. Create bamboo cane tee-pees or tripods around the plants when they're 7.5-l0 cm high.
Harvest As they start to mature, keep an eye on your peas, as the earlier they are picked the sweeter they'll be. Harvest regularly to encourage your plants to keep on producing. Start from the bottom of the plant where the peas mature first and work your way up.
Troubleshooting:
• Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that appears as a white mildew on pea plants, stunting growth and causing leaves to shrivel.
- Dig organic material into the soil before planting to improve soil water retention
- Space plants when planting to ensure good air circulation
- Remove any affected growth promptly
- Water regularly in dry periods
• Rodents - Mice and other rodents (including rabbits and bandicoots) may dig up and eat peas sown in the ground. Cover the ground with a thick layer of mulch. Start seeds off in pots or seed trays and plant them out as seedlings
• Birds can strip tender young leaves off pea plants, leaving them bare. Grow plants under netting
Varieties
Peas are amazing! They've been around a long, long time! So long in fact peas were discovered in Egyptian tombs. One serving of peas contains as much vitamin C as two large apples and more fibre than a slice of wholemeal bread.
Early: Earlicrop Massey
Main crop: Greenfeast, Telephone Pole
Snow peas: Oregon Giant, Oregon Sugar
Sugar snap: Sugar Snap, Cascadia
When to plant: March to May
How to plant:
Prepare soil with compost & low nitrogenous cow manure. Leave a week or two.
Depth & space:
Sow seeds, lying flat 3-5cm deep, directly into the ground, after soaking overnight in a diluted seaweed solution. Water at planting then not again until sprouting to prevent rot.
OR
Seeds can be pre-sprouted by laying flat between damp sheets of paper towel in a sealed box set in a warm place. Takes a week. Water as needed when planted out. Space 15-25cm apart in rows 20-50cm apart. Germinate best at soil temp 15-25’C
Water once and don’t water again until you see two open leaves. Over-watering is the biggest cause of germination failure.
Care: Sprinkle diatomaceous earth to prevent snails. Stake and pinch out tops to make bushier plants.
Broad beans, inoculated with rhizobium bacterium, can be used as a green manure crop. Allow to grow for 8 weeks, them chop. Dig in or lay on ground, cover with mulch & wait 4 weeks before planting anything new.
Harvest: in 18-20 weeks. Harvest constantly to ensure a continuous crop.
Troubleshooting:
• Look out for aphids & fungal rust.
Varieties
Coles Dwarf Prolific produces heavy crops on 1m-high plants.
Crimson Flowered has red flowers instead of black/white and good tasting beans. Grows to 90cm.
Early Longpod to 1.5m produces large pods.
Aquadulce is a dwarf heirloom variety usueful for windy areas. Pods get to 20cm long.