You know it is June when you are picking strawberries and broad beans!
This year I am growing
Crimson Flowered Broad beans. They are an old variety which is seeing a bit of a comeback at the moment. The plant is a little smaller than the new varieties, and the pods are definitely smaller containing 3 to 5 beans in each one. I am pinching out the growing tips of all the plants now so that it can concentrate on maturing the beans.
The pods grow vertically up the stem.
We've had a bit of rain in the last few days and these pods have ripened quickly.
Crimson flowered beans cross-pollinate readily with the conventional white flowered varieties, and every now and then I will find a pale pink hybrid among the crimsons.
I am noticing this year however, an amazing lack of blackfly! In fact, I've never had a year like it! These plants are virtually spotless! I wonder if the cold Winter knocked them back? Last year I decided to be a bit greener and did not spray at all. I did not have a single bean last year, the entire crop was eaten by blackfly.
Only the tip of one plant showed any infestation at all. I will be taking this tip off and disposing of it.
Has anyone else noticed a lack of blackfly on broad beans this year?
This year I am growing Crimson Flowered Broad beans. They are an old variety which is seeing a bit of a comeback at the moment. The plant is a little smaller than the new varieties, and the pods are definitely smaller containing 3 to 5 beans in each one. I am pinching out the growing tips of all the plants now so that it can concentrate on maturing the beans.
The pods grow vertically up the stem.
We've had a bit of rain in the last few days and these pods have ripened quickly.
Crimson flowered beans cross-pollinate readily with the conventional white flowered varieties, and every now and then I will find a pale pink hybrid among the crimsons.
I am noticing this year however, an amazing lack of blackfly! In fact, I've never had a year like it! These plants are virtually spotless! I wonder if the cold Winter knocked them back? Last year I decided to be a bit greener and did not spray at all. I did not have a single bean last year, the entire crop was eaten by blackfly.
Only the tip of one plant showed any infestation at all. I will be taking this tip off and disposing of it. Has anyone else noticed a lack of blackfly on broad beans this year?