My beans were sowed on February 23rd. They are "De Monica", and "Imperial Green Longpod".
Gently squeezing the pods, it felt as if there were reasonably-sized beans inside, so I tentatively picked just one pod to see what was inside:
The pod was about the same length as my secateurs. It was one of the "De Monica" ones. The "Imperial Green Longpod" are longer and slimmer.
Inside I found five beans. Three were of a decent size, but the other two were still very tiny.
I'm sure they would all have grown bigger if I had left them, but I am not in the business of growing vegetables for huge harvests - I prefer small and tender - so I judged that it would be OK to pick a few more pods.
There are plenty more where they came from:-
I will write about the ones I picked and how they were eaten, in a day or two, but let me end this post by showing you the symptoms of another very common disease of beans - Broad Bean Rust:
The rusty red spots surrounded by a lighter halo are very characteristic of this fungal disease. It is unsightly, but rarely very damaging. It seems to attack only the leaves, not the pods. Fortunately my plants are not badly affected. The recommended advice is to remove the affected leaves and burn them. It's best not to put them in the compost, because the spores may survive and go on to affect more plants next year when you distribute the compost around your garden.
Enjoy. It looks like you're going to have a good harvest with lots more beans to come.
ReplyDeleteYour beans are looking great. So many pods in there. You will have to show us how you cook them up. I live vicariously now with some things.
ReplyDeleteI have broad beans developing on my plants and I'm so excited! They grow so differently from regular beans - it's quite fascinating. I'm growing a late tall variety and an early short. So far I have pods developing on the early one & the flowers have started on the tall one. What's interesting is that the short variety's flowers are at intervals along the stalk but the tall seems to have a cluster of flowers at the top.
ReplyDeleteYour plants are looking wonderfully healthy, Mark. Mine broadies are covered in flowers but no beans yet. I've had an enforced absence from the garden while I've been away in Hampshire with my parents and have noticed the start of blackfly on my beans. I think my tasks today will be debugging the garden and keeping up with weeds and deadheading!
ReplyDeleteYour broad beans are looking nice and healthy. I'm with Daphne, curious to see how you prepare them, but more because I always enjoy trying new recipes.
ReplyDeleteThose look so good! I would be embrassed to photograph ours we only have 2 pods! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteOur broad beans are now starting to pod so maybe we won't be too far behind you in the end.
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