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<\/a>A bit of rotovation works wonders<\/p><\/div>\n
This time, thanks to a bit of titivation at home, the rotovater worked slightly better and I managed to get the two long beds completely turned over. They still need picking through slowly to uncover the couch grass roots which plague our patch, but at least, on the surface, things are looking worked and cultivated.<\/p>\n
Over at The Garden Smallholder<\/a> there’s been much talk about broad beans of late. For several years I’ve had a bit of a nightmare with this wonderful bean. Two years ago I planted them in Jan and had a dismal crop after the blackflies attacked. Last year I forgot to plant in November, germinated inside and had to plant out before the frosts had passed due to increasing legginess. Of course, creeping cold soon came, blackened all the stems, and once again, no crop. This year, I used the toilet roll method of germination<\/a> but placed the bowl outside, allowing the beans to germinate at their own pace and become hard seedlings. This seems to have been a success and so far, I have about 40 happy looking plants.<\/p>\n