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growing them this way but I only need a few plants as Paul isn't keen on broad beans - too many massive, chalky old ones when he was a lad.If I have any more problems with growing broad beans I may discuss them with fellow allotmenteers. My neighbour Vic

the pretty ones, leaving the others to grow to gargantuan proportions.Broad beans need picking regularly to ensure the plants keep flowering and producing beans, so mine have inevitably stopped cropping. The stems are laden with pods so large they're getting

and snails paid them a great deal of attention - a lot more than Lizzy and me - and the cold, damp weather seemed to stop them in their tracks. If you need some tips on growing beans take a look at the rhs website.They just sat there for weeks, getting

by growing some of their favourite plants: cosmos, sunflowers, candytuft, lupins and foxgloves. And blackfly also love nasturtiums, so if you plant them around your broad, runner and French beans, they'll act as a 'sacrificial crop', suffering the onslaught

as if it's been the year of the slug, it was rather gratifying to see how successful Pippa's beer traps have been! I have also struggled all summer to get my head round growing beans for drying and when to pick them.You actually leave them to dry

planted in my children's plots, complete with home-made plant supports. According to my children "when the beans grow they can use the wigwams too", because "you did say that sweet peas help to encourage the bees to pollinate them".The wigwams are both

draw up a crop rotation plan. I actually drew a rough outline of where I was going to grow this year's crops in the autumn, before putting in the onions and garlic. Typically, I never got around to finishing it off.My crop rotation plan comprises a

to leave. The beds dedicated to growing hungry crops, such as beans and courgettes will need plenty of organic matter added, such as garden compost or well-rotted horse manure.Beds dedicated to growing root crops, such as carrots and parsnips will not have

.Types to sow now include crimson clover, fenugreek, field lupins - even broad beans. They germinate and grow quickly and reduce weed growth. Flowering varieties even attract bees and beneficial insects.Nothing could be simpler, and the green manures help break

It's always exciting when we move the stock outside from the polytunnels to 'harden off' and 'grow on', so that they're just perfect for the Chelsea Flower Show. I guess it's rather like farmers letting cows out onto the grass after a long winter